


The price of peace

by LoneWolf97



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2020-09-26 08:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20386864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoneWolf97/pseuds/LoneWolf97
Summary: After discovering the true fate of the egg of the Dragon Prince and forced to flee their home, princes Callum and Ezran along with the former assassin Rayla embark on a journey to deliver it to Xadia in order to bring peace between humans and elves. On this journey Callum intends to become stronger to protect his little brother and bring Viren to justice. However, trying to change a world that has known nothing but violence and hatred for generations requires a price and our heroes will see how heavy it is. AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I recently got into Dragon Prince and I saw both seasons in a day and I loved it! I can wait for season 3! Anyway, this little thing came to me while watching so I figure, why not.

Callum gritted his teeth as he blocked another blow from Soren.

“You’re supposed to parry, not block with your sword,” instructed Soren.

“I thought swords are meant to slash and stab people,” said Callum snarky before pushing Soren back.

"They are. But should you be shield-less they can be used to parry your opponent and counter-attack. That is the whole point of this exercise," the older boy said and attacking Callum relentlessly until he found an opening and poked him in the gut with the wooden sword. "Dead," he said with a smirk. “You’re too slow and you need to anticipate where your opponent is going to strike if you want to parry successfully. You can’t do that even with a shield.”

Callum smirked. “I didn’t need to parry to beat you the last couple of times.”

Soren glared. “Congratulations. Out of 10 duels, you won 3. It's a good thing the elves will grant multiple chances to win on the battlefield. Oh wait, they won't,” he said sarcastically.

The young prince sighed. “I know. Sorry.”

“Let’s try again.”

They dueled multiple times and at one point Callum was forcing Soren back until the young knight deduced the prince's move and swiftly disarmed him before poking him in the head. Callum hissed in pain, but he noticed someone in his peripheral vision. Turning his head he saw Claudia walking around reading her favorite book. Suddenly his pain disappeared and his mood was elevated as a smile appeared on his face. Having noticed the dumb smile and the lovesick puppy look Callum had for his sister, Soren rolled his eyes. Callum smile dropped when he noticed the collision trajectory Claudia had with the tree and the fact that her nose was buried inside the book to notice.

“Hey, your sister is about to hit the tree,” he exclaimed, but Soren just shushed him. Not being able to stand by he shouted her name.

Claudia looked up and saw that she was a hair away from the tree. She turned around and saw Callum and her brother. “Hi Callum,” she greeted with a smile that made his heart quicken. “Is this new?” she asked, pointing at the tree.

“Relatively new,” he said with a chuckle. “Only 300 years.”

Claudia laughed before sitting down on the bench, reading her book but also paying attention to the two boys sparring.

“Hey, can we try again? I think I can do it now,” Callum said.

Soren went on offensive pushing Callum back. The young prince let out a battle cry and went low for Soren’s legs, but the young knight stepped back and caught the sword with his leg. “What was that?” asked Soren amused.

“I don’t know. Uh, I was trying to ‘sweep the leg’,” admitted Callum lamely.

"That's not a thing in sword fighting," he said before looking at his sister who was paying attention. Soren chuckled. "I see what's going on here," he said before releasing Callum’s sword. “Don’t worry, I’ll help. You come at me this time.” True to his word, Soren went easy on Callum and let him ‘stab’ him. He let out a grunt and fell to the ground dramatically. “Oh, I’ve been stabbed! By the stab-prince! Lord Stabbington! Why? Spurt! Spurt!”

Callum smiled. Soren was a good friend for helping him impress Claudia. He considered the young knight to be his best friend.

Claudia chuckled. “Nice worked Callum,” she said and Callum’s heart soar.

However, the fun would not last as Opeli came and informed him that the king requested his presence.

Their father is sending them both to the Banther Lodge… the Winter Lodge… in spring, with little to no explanation whatsoever. Both he and Ezran could figure out something was wrong, but being the good older brother that he is, Callum reassured Ezran that it was no big deal. Callum eventually figured what was going on, thanks to Soren's big mouth. So, finding some armor that fit him, a sword and a shield he met with the group of soldiers that Soren would lead to finding the assassins.

“Wait!” he called. “I’m coming with you!”

"You look terrific," said Soren sarcastically. "But, just so you know, that's ceremonial armor. It's three times as heavy and half as strong. Oh, but so shiny!"

“I don’t care. I know what’s going on and I’m coming with you,” the young prince said with determination as he struggled to get on the horse.

“You’re just a kid, Callum.”

"I'll be 15 in two months," he defended lamely.

“Oh, fourteen and three quarters! Wow!” Soren responded sarcastically.

“Five-sixths. Soren, he’s our King. And he’s my father. It’s my duty to help.”

Soren took a bite out of his apple. "Think fast!" he said and threw the apple at the young prince who blocked it and fell down his horse in the mud. The young knight let out a sigh. "You were supposed to catch that," he said before leaving the frustrated prince behind.

Removing the dirty armor, Callum returned to his room he shared with Ezran.

“Ez! What are you doing?” he asked annoyed.

“Hi, Callum. Do you want a-“

“No, I don’t want a stupid jelly tart!” he snapped. “Why aren’t you packed? You know we have to get going soon.”

“But…you’re not packed.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” he asked rhetorically as he stuffed clothes into his backpack. As he put clothes inside his backpack, he felt something sticky. Pulling his hand out he saw that he shoved a shirt into the jelly tarts his brother put in, as a joke. Normally he could have taken the joke, but he was frustrated that he couldn’t do a damned thing to save his father. While he was decent with a sword and shield against regular guards, he had no chance against the elite troops and knights in the kingdom. From what he heard the assassins were Moonshadow elves, the strongest warriors in the world. He felt so useless! Ezran giggle was the last thing that pushed him off the edge. “Ezran! You don’t get it, do you? Why do you think they’re sending us away? Because they are coming to kill him!”

Callum watched as unshed tears formed in his younger brother’s eyes before entering his bedroom and shut the door. Callum sighed as he sat on the floor, feeling awful. He was supposed to support Ez, but all he did was hurt his little brother and worry him about their dad. He _really_ sucked at everything. He got up and began packing again, letting Ezran cool off before attempting to talk to him again. When he was done, he knocked on the door. “Ezran, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said. I’m sure everything will be fine. Come on. Later, you can call me a jerkface, and I’ll do the crazy jerkface dance for you. It is a dance of stuptidute and sorry-ness," he said, hoping that the boy would talk to him again. When the door didn't open, Callum's shoulder sag in regret. "Okay, well, I'm going to go grab some books for our trip. We don't have much time, so I'll be back to help you pack in a few," he said and left to the library.

In the library, the young prince search for a book that he looks interesting. Eventually, he picked up a book he found interesting. He opened it at a random page and before he could look at it, the page turn, making him gasp. Suddenly, the pages turned by themselves and the boy gasp again and back away. “How in the…” he whispered.

Claudia made her presence known by giggling. Callum gaped at the mage apprentice as she made a strange symbol in the air. “_Aspiro_,” she whispered and blew a current of air that threw the book away.

“I thought the book was hunted or something,” the young prince said as he got up.

“You should have seen the look on your face. It was completely adorable.”

“Ridiculous,” he said at the same time as Claudia and when he realized she said something else she looked at her. “Did you just say adorable?”

“Did I?” she asked with a cheeky smirk, making Callum blush and look away.

The young prince quickly cleared his throat to save face. "It's so amazing that you can do things like that."

"Nah, it's just a simple wind breath rune," she said as she drew the rune symbol in the air and cast _Aspiro_. “Can you smell the peanut butter?”

“Oh, yeah. Is that part of the spell?”

“Nope, it’s just what I had for lunch,” she responded and both laughed. “See this?” she asked as she lifted the strange globe. “It’s a primal stone. It uses magical energy from one of the six primal sources. Look,” she said and handed him the stone.

“Wow,” breathed Callum as he looked at it, feeling a pull towards it. “What’s inside?”

“It’s a storm, a real storm. Captured from the top of Mount Kalik.”

“That’s incredible. You’re so lucky you get to learn magic,” he said as he gave the stone back, feeling a bit sad that he had to part with it.

“Well, you get to learn sword-fighting,” she said trying to uplift the young prince’s spirit.

“I’d switch places in a second.”

Callum watched as Claudia's face lit up as if she got an idea. She tapped her nose, which he considered to be very cute before dashing off. The young prince didn't understand what that was about (or girls in general) but was happy that he could help his crush. Picking up the book he returned to his room and knocked on his brother's door.

“Ezran, we need to get going. It's almost sundown," he said but got no response. "Ez?” he asked once more before sticking his head through Bait’s entrance. “Oh, no,” he exclaimed as he realized Ez was not in his room.

“Prince Callum?” a guard asked, startling him, making him hit his head.

“Yes?” he said with an uneasy smile as he rubbed the spot he hit.

“The king wants to see you alone, prince Callum,” the guard said.

Callum thanked the guard and quickly went to the Throne Room. On the way there he relaxed. _Ez is fine. He does that all the time when he is upset. He’ll turn up when it’s time to go._ He opened the door and saw King Harrow in the middle of the room, his back turned to him, his hands behind his back. Callum recognizes his pensive stance. "You wanted to see me?" he asked as the king turned to face him, but said nothing. The young prince entered and approached the king.

“Prince Callum,” Harrow addressed him.

_Ah, so formal then_. Callum bowed. “My king.”

“No, I…Please,” the king said as if he realized he made a mistake.

“Okay,” the young boy said, looking confused.

“Callum, I know that I’m not your birth father, but I what you to know that…” he said before taking a deep breath. “This isn’t easy. So, the most important things, I’ve written down,” he said and handed the boy a sealed letter.

“A letter?” he asked as he grabbed it.

“You’ll understand in time. I want you to break the seal when…Well, you’ll know when.”

“When you’ve been killed,” the prince said, his voice heavy with emotion.

"War is full of uncertainty," Harrow said putting his hand on Callum's shoulder, trying to give the boy hope but failed.

“Why can’t you do something about it? Can’t you just make peace with them?”

“It’s not that simple.”

Callum shrugged Harrow's hand off him. "It seems pretty simple to me. You don't want to die. I’m sure the elves and the dragon don’t want to die. So, everyone agrees.”

“There are centuries of history. Generations of wrongs and crimes. On both sides. I am responsible for some of those wrongs. I have done terrible things. I thought they were necessary. Now I don’t know,” Harrow said, voice heavy with regret. “But I do know that I will pay the price for the choices I made.”

“There has to be a way to make it right.”

“It’s too late. What is done cannot be undone.”

“But you’re the king. You can do anything.”

Harrow chuckled. “The great illusion of childhood is that adults have all the power and freedom. But the truth is the opposite. A child is freer than a king.”

“I’m going to give this back to you this weekend, okay? I’m not going to have to open this,” he said, trying to convince himself more than his adoptive father.

Harrow looked at Callum sadly. “Take care of your brother.”

Callum began to walk away sadly. When he was at the middle of the room he stopped and balled his hands into fists. _To hell with this_. He turned and faced Harrow who looked at him with the same sad expression. Tears began to form in his eyes but refused to let them fall. Instead, he hugged his adoptive father, conveying all his feelings towards him in that hug. Eventually, he left the throne room and went back to look for his brother. As he walked down the corridor, he saw something moving from his peripheral vision.

“Ez, is that you?” he called but got no answer.

He continued walking, but the hairs on the back of his head were straight. Someone was stalking him. _Ez is probably trying to prank me for being a jerk earlier._ He considered letting his brother have his revenge but decided against it. He wanted to properly apologize for earlier and if Ez considered he still wanted to prank him, he would let it slide this time.

He smirked. "You know you can't sneak up behind me," he said and turned. However, instead of his little brother behind him was figure dressed in light green armor with two swords drawn. Removing her hood the figure revealed herself to be a Moonshadow elf. “Uh, uh, you’re not who I thought…You’re one of those, with the pointy…”

The elf smirked. “Oh, you don’t like my ears?”

“No. I mean, yeah. Yes, I do, I guess,” he stuttered. “I mean…I meant the pointy swords.”

“That’s far enough,” she instructed, pointing one of her swords at him. “I’m looking for someone.”

_Oh, I know who you’re looking for and I won’t let you hurt him._ “Oh. Uh, did you check back there?” he asked pointing at a curtain hung on the wall.

To his great surprise, the elf looked at it, and Callum took advantage of the little distraction and dropped the curtain on her and started running to find help. The elf quickly catches up to him and no matter how many armored suits he knocked behind him, nothing seems to slow her down. Eventually, he found two guards patrolling, but they were no match for her. He was so amazed at how powerful she was that he blurted out. "Hey, you swept the leg.”

“What?”

“Uh, nothing,” he said and ran away again. As he ran he recognized this part of the castle.

_Lord Viren’s quarters are nearby. If anyone can deal with her it would be him._

With his mind made up, he reached the High Mage's room and burst open the doors.

“Lord Viren! Claudia!” he yelled but to his despair the room was empty.

A second later the elf bumped into him, cornering him.

“You don’t have to die,” she said as she approached him. “There are only two targets tonight.”

“Wait, two? What do you mean?”

“I’m here for the king. And I’m also here for his son, Prince Ezran.”

Callum’s entire being just turned cold. “You can’t! That’s just not fair! Why would you hurt someone who has done nothing wrong?”

"Humans cut down the King of the Dragons and destroyed his only egg, the Dragon Prince. Justice will not be denied."

"I see," he said and took a deep breath, to strengthen his resolve. He was not strong enough to defeat this elf, but there is something else he could do to give his brother a fighting chance. _I’m sorry Ez._ “Then you found me. I am Prince Ezran.”

“I have to do this, I’m sorry. I don’t want to, but I have to.”

“Why? You know this is wrong,” he said, trying to reach out to the elf girl. Maybe he could find a peaceful resolution to this. _Time to put my diplomatic skills to the test_

“An assassin doesn’t decide right and wrong, only life and death.”

"That's very clever, but come on, really? How does this solve anything?"

“This is justice. Humans attacked us unprovoked.”

“So, it’s okay for you to do the same?”

“Well, no. It’s not the same thing because we are attacking you provoked.”

“Then it’s a cycle. You hurt me and someone will get revenge on elves. It will never end!”

“Callum,” a voice he knew so well whispered, making the prince's heartbeat twice as fast in panic and fear.

_You idiot! What are you doing here?!_

“Psst, Callum,” Ez said again from behind the painting.

“Go away,” he whispered back angrily.

“I found something.”

“Are you talking to that painting?” asked the elf.

He let out a nervous chuckle. “Why would I do that? ‘Cause it’s not a good time.”

“You mean because you’re with a girl?”

_For crying out loud Ezran!_

The assassin moved slowly towards the painting, as she kept pointing one of her swords at Callum and opened the secret passage.

“Uh…Jelly tart?” the young prince offered lamely.

“Kid, get out of here!” Callum ordered.

“Callum, what’s going on?” asked Ez and Callum fought the urge to facepalm himself.

“Callum? I thought you were prince Ezran. You lied to me,” the elf said angrily.

“Okay, how is that worse than trying to kill someone?” he asked trying one last time to appeal to her good sense.

The assassin looked at Ezran who was munching on a tart. “Have you met Bait? Say hello to my little friend,” he said and Bait glowed, blinding the elf. “Callum, follow me. I have to show you something.”

Callum wasted no time and followed his brother. He couldn’t help but be amazed at the secret passage and the secret lab.

“You sure she won’t be able to follow us?” he asked his brother.

"No way. It took me a month to learn that combination," Ez said proudly.

Suddenly the entrance of the lab opened and both princes froze in fear as the assassin entered.

“But, how did you…” Ez asked dumbfounded.

“I just pressed all the stones with jelly handprints,” she said with a menacing smirk.

Callum moved protectively in front of Ezran, looking around desperately for something, anything that could hold off the assassin to give his brother a chance to escape, but found nothing. He clenched his jaw, determined to throw himself at the elf.

“What is this place?” she asked angrily. “Runaan is right. There is nothing in humans worth sparing. Time’s up. Humans destroyed the egg of the Dragon Prince. There must be justice.”

“You’ll have to get through me,” Callum said with determination.

“Really?” growled the elf as she advanced.

“Wait!” yelled Ez. “You need to see something.”

“I’m falling for that flashing toad trick again.”

“He’s a glow toad,” clarified Ez. “But there is no trick this time. Please look,” pleaded the boy, pointing at a thing covered by a blanket.

The assassin agreed, surprising Callum. “Fine, you uncover it. Slowly.”

“I can hear something inside, something alive,” he said and moved the blanket, revealing a blue, glowing egg.

The elf gasped. “It…it can’t be.”

“The egg. It wasn’t destroyed,” Callum said and felt hope spark within him. If they returned the egg, maybe the assassins would leave Harrow alive.

“This changes everything,” the elf said, making the spark inside the young prince burn brighter.

“So, this is it? The egg of the Dragon Prince?” asked Callum for confirmation

“I can’t believe. If the egg lives…” the elf said.

“Maybe it can stop a war from happening,” finished the prince.

The assassin approached the egg to study it.

“He’s okay in there. I can feel it,” Ez said, making the elf relax.

“But how? Why wasn’t it destroyed?” asked Callum

“Because my father saved it,” said Claudia as she made her presence known. The assassin drew her blades. “Callum, Ezran, get behind me. I can protect you from the elf.”

“Your father didn’t save it, he stole it,” accused the assassin.

“That’s a lie!”

“Then, Claudia, why is it here?” Callum asked as he stepped forward, trying to find a way to resolve this without conflict.

“My father took it to protect us, Callum, so the elves and the dragons couldn’t use it against us,” the mage apprentice explained.

“What are you talking about? How can we use it?” asked the elf, finding the questions utterly ridiculous.

“Don’t play dumb! You know it’s a powerful weapon.”

“It’s not a weapon. It’s an egg!”

“Ezran, don’t be afraid. Walk towards, and if she moves an inch…” she said and drew a rune in the air, making lighting crackle around her.

_Well, looks like there is no way this can be resolved peacefully_ sighed the prince mentally.

“Just bring that thing here.”

“It’s not a thing! It has a mother and it needs to go back to her.”

“You’re right. It wants its mother,” said Ezran.

“Ezran, be careful,” warned Claudia.

Callum looked at his younger brother ponder before choosing to lead the elf away.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hit Ez,” the young mage assured Callum

However just as she was about to shoot, Callum pushed her hand away and quickly chained her.

“Callum, what are you doing?” Claudia asked completely shocked that he would do such a thing.

The boy couldn’t bear to look her in the eye and see her betrayed expression. It hurt him so much that he had to this and he was sure that if he were to look at her now, it would kill him inside. “The right thing, I hope,” he said before grabbing the primal stone. “I’m sorry Claudia,” he said over his shoulder as he ran after his brother and the elf, choosing to ignore her calling out his name.

As he ran he heard wolves howling. He looked back, he saw two shadows wolfs right behind him making him ran faster.

“There’s something behind us,” he informed his companions.

“Keep running,” order the elf as she stopped and drew her blades.

Unfortunately, the princes accidentally walked into a dead end and the assassin tried to fight off the wolves, but since they were made of smoke she couldn’t hurt them.

“I can’t stop them. They’re just smoke. My swords pass right through,” she said, panic quite clear in her voice, as she stood protectively in front of the princes as the wolves moved forward.

Callum looked at the Primal Stone an idea forming in his mind. He recalled the rune that Claudia draw and the wind spell. “There might be something I can do, but I don’t know if I can do it,” he said.

“Is this a guessing game? Just do it,” replied the elf annoyed.

The wolves lunged, ready to pounce on the assassin. Callum stopped thinking, he just acted. He drew the rune and said the spell’s name, successfully blowing the shadow wolves away.

“You did it,” exclaimed Ezran happily.

“You didn’t mention you were a mage,” the elf said as he regarded the prince with curiosity.

“Who? Me?” asked as he snapped from his amazement. “I’m not a mage.”

“You just did magic,” said the little prince excitedly.

“Yeah, that’s what a mage is,” supplied the elf. “You’re a mage.”

"I'm a mage?" asked Callum, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "I'm a mage!"

The elf put her finger on his mouth to shush him. “Nobody liked a loud mage.”

“Sorry,” said the prince sheepishly.

_I’m a mage_

They had managed to get to the roof with no problem. He and Ezran were hidden behind a box as the elf, no, Rayla, tried to convince her superior, Runaan, to call off the assassination, explaining that she found the egg of the Dragon Prince. Runaan, however, would have none of it, calling Rayla a fool for believing such a thing.

“She’s not a fool,” said Callum as he stepped out from his hiding spot. He understood Runaan’s point of view, ‘seeing is believing after all’. Even he wouldn’t trust someone just because they talk sweetly.

“You’ve made a big mistake,” he growled as he notched an arrow.

“Ez, show him,” he said and his brother revealed the egg.

Runaan gasped. “It’s beautiful,” he said and Callum had to stop himself from smiling.

_We’ve done it. We’ve stopped the assassination and probably managed to reach a peaceful agreement between Xadia and the Pentarchy._

“How can we take vengeance for an act that never happened?” Rayla reasoned. “You have to call it off.”

“Rayla, you know it doesn’t work that way. We bound ourselves. There’s only one way to release,” Runaan said and Callum’s body got tense.

_No, don’t be an idiot!_

“Runaan, please,” Rayla pleaded. “There has to be another way. This is a miracle, a chance of peace.”

“The humans stroke down the King of the Dragons. Justice will not be denied. Now hand me the egg,” ordered Runaan.

Instead, Rayla drew her weapons and stood protectively in front of the princes, a move that surprised everyone. “Callum, Ezran, go,” she ordered.

“But-“ Callum tried to voice his concern

“Just keep it safe,” she said.

Callum reluctantly led Ezran away. Once down from the battlements he hid Ez and Bait into a wagon of hay before going up to see his father. He didn’t know what his father would do, but there has to be something he _could_ do. He was the king after all.

He quickly made his way past the guards, only for Soren to block the door. “Whoa, slow down there prince. Your dad is pretty busy. You know, trying not to die and stuff.”

“You’re not stopping me,” the young prince said with determination as he pushed past Soren only to come face to face with Lord Viren.

"You should not be here," he said while glaring at the boy.

“I know what you did,” Callum said, matching the High Mage’s glare. “You stole the egg of the Dragon Prince. We’ve found it and we’re keeping it safe.”

Normally Callum wouldn’t have exploded like this but today have been a pretty long and bad day for him. The way he saw it, the reason assassins were after his father’s life was because Viren killed the Dragon Prince and stole their egg, regardless of Claudia's claims.

“’We’?” asked Viren, raising an eyebrow.

“The king will have you in shackles when he finds out about this!”

“What makes you so sure that he doesn’t know about this?” asked as Callum’s breath hitched.

_No, that can’t be true._

“Grab him,” ordered Viren and the guards looked at him like he grew a second head.

“But, he’s the prince,” said Soren, unknowingly voicing Callum’s thoughts as well.

“Do it!”

Callum tried to run, but the guards quickly grabbed him and brought up to Viren. “Now, tell me. Where is the egg?”

“I’ll call out! I’ll scream!”

“Go ahead,” the High Mage said before performing a spell that took Callum’s voice, horrifying everyone present.

“You impudent little mongrel! You were spoiled and given everything and that has left you weak and helpless,” ranted the mage with venom. “Tonight, your world is changing, and there is nothing you or anyone can-“

Suddenly the wind began to howl as the torches were snuffed out.

“They’re here,” said Soren as the guards readied themselves.

An arrow sailed through the hall aimed at Callum, but Soren pushed the young prince out of the way and the arrow hit his shoulder. The elves poured into the hall and chaos erupted. In the attack, Viren got knocked down and dropped the recipient holding Callum's voice who returned to his owner. Callum desperately yelled for his father, but due to the noise of battle his voice didn't reach the king, nor could he reach the door to his chamber. Looking around the battlefield he saw Viren who backed away slowly.

_What is he doing? Is he really going to leave King Harrow to his fate?_

“Callum!” Ezran voiced called him.

From the window, Callum saw his brother and Rayla looking for him before looking back at the fight. Viren already disappeared. At that moment Callum came to a grim realization: he couldn't do anything to stop the elves or reach Harrow. But there were other things he could do: keep his brother safe and return the egg in hope of bringing peace. With a heavy heart, he ran down the stairs and in his hurry tripped over the dead body of a guard. He recoiled, unable to look at the poor soul and kept running.

“Callum. Did you talk to dad?” asked Ezran.

The prince shook his head and looked at the tower.

“Say the word and I’ll go back into that tower with you,” said Rayla with determination.

Callum truly appreciated the offer, but he had already made up his mind. “No. It’s up to us now. We have to return the egg. We have to keep it safe and carry it to Xadia.”

“And find its mother,” completed Ezran.

“We could change things. We can make a difference,” said Rayla.

"Just the three of us," said Callum, and Bait croaked at him annoyed. "Sorry. Just the four of us" corrected sheepishly.

And they were off with Rayla leading the way.

“Callum, do you think dad will be alright?” Ezran asked as they ran.

"He has the best-trained guards protecting him," the older brother said, trying to convince the both of them.

“Yeah, you’re right,” said the young boy happily.

As they ran through the woods, Rayla suddenly stopped. Callum noticed. “What’s going on? Something is wrong.”

“No, it’s…We should stop and rest soon. It’s a long journey to Xadia.”

Callum nodded satisfied with the explanation. “I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you up when in a couple of hours.”

“Are you sure asked?” asked Rayla. “You should rest. You had a long day.”

“I’m not tired yet. I’ll take the first watch,” said the prince with a note of finality.

As his companions rested, Callum replayed the events of the day in his mind, trying to see if there was something he could do to help his father, but he found nothing.

_Viren was right. I’m weak and helpless. If only I had been stronger, faster, smarter maybe the situation would have been different._

He felt an emotion he hadn’t felt since his mother died: anger. He was angry at Runaan for his close-mindedness, at Viren for provoking the elves and the dragons, but the most anger he felt was towards his weakness. A light snore pulled him out of his self-loathing and looked at his little brother sleeping with a smile on his face, no doubt having a nice dream. He shook his head to get rid of negative thoughts. For now, he had a job to do. He looked at the Primal Stone with determination.

_I had enough of being weak. I’m going to become strong to protect the ones I cherish. I swear it!_


	2. Chapter 2

Claudia walked behind her father as he led the crowd of people towards the King’s final resting place.

_Poor Callum and Ezran. I hope they are safe_.

She hadn’t heard anything about the boys since they took the egg with them. The possibility that they have been captured or killed by the elf crossed her mind, but she refuses to make to let it get to her. She watched her father gave his speech to the crowd about the passing of King Harrow and she could tell that he was trying to stay strong. He and Harrow had been friends for a long time and the fact that he couldn’t save him must weight heavily on his mind.

“Wait,” said Opheli. “We are the princes? They need to be here.”

“The princes…are dead,” said the High Mage.

The news shattered her entire world. Her knees buckled and if it weren't for Soren she would have fallen on her knees.

_No, they can’t be…_

They were her only friends. None in the castle ever associated with her because they all thought she was weird, but they liked her for who she was. They were kind, funny and only wanted to help people.

_Ezran was just a little boy…And Callum…poor, sweet Callum_

She remembers the last time she saw them with clarity in her father’s laboratory with that elf, how they ran with her. Anger flowed through her and she no longer needed Soren for support.

_All they ever wanted was to save their father and reunite a child with its mother. And that elf tricked them, took advantage of their kindness._

The rest of the ceremony went like a blur, her mind fixed on avenging her fallen friends.

_And if I ever find that elf, she’s going to wish she was never born!_

* * *

Callum focused on drawing the Primal Stone. He loved art and drawing was something he enjoyed as a kid. It calmed him, engaged him and gave him something to do with his free time. He was so focused that he didn’t hear Rayla calling him.

“That’s your name, right? Callum? Or was it Clem? Or Camel?”

“It’s Callum,” he said simply. “I was just distracted trying to draw the Prismal Ball.”

“You mean Primal Stone,” she corrected.

“Right. It holds the essence of a primal spirit inside.”

“Primal Source.”

“Right.”

“You do know what are the six Primal Sources are, right?”

“Uh, if I say yes, are you going to make me name them?” he asked sheepishly.

Rayla sighed and extended her hand for his sketchbook. "All magic in the world comes from the primal Sources,” she explained as she drew. “They’re the original and purest forms of magical energy. The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth and…”

“The Sky,” finished Callum.

“Yes. To cast a spell, a mage needs a Primal Energy. So that wind breath spell you did? You’d usually need a storm or a strong breeze. But with that stone, you have the power of the Sky, at any given time.”

“Wow,” breathed Callum.

"Primal Stones are incredibly rare. They've been sought by the most powerful arch-mages in the history. And now, somehow, you have one," she teased with a smirk and handed his sketchbook back.

_Her drawings aren’t bad at all. Wait a minute…_

“I’ve seen this before, at the Bather Lodge. There was this little cube with these exact symbols on it,” he said.

“Uh, neet?” she said, not sure what to say.

“What if it’s magic? We have to go get it,” he said with determination.

“Wait, what? We have real problems to worry about. Ending the war, taking the dragon egg back to Xadia. Remember?”

“Xadia is to the east, right? So is the lodge. It’s on the way.”

"Oh, great. I'm sure it would be crawling with a human. Humans that are looking for you and try to kill me. Yay," said Rayla sarcastically.

“It’s the winter lodge. It’s been empty for months, trust me,” countered Callum, but she wouldn’t budge. He let out a sigh. “Look, Rayla. Princes are supposed to be got at things. Sword fighting, leadership, riding horses. But I’ve always been kind of bad at, well, everything. So, when I tried that spell, I was sure I’d ended up on fire or spiders, but it worked. And then you called me a mage and it felt…right. I…I just have this feeling that the cube could help.”

“Callum?” Ezran called groggily as he woke up. “I had a weird dream.”

The older prince sighed. “It wasn’t a dream Ez, it was real.”

“Are you sure? There was this pink hippopotamus and I pulled his ears off. Because it was made of taffy.”

Callum chuckled. “I meant us fleeing the castle was real.”

“Hey sad prince,” Rayla said with a smile. “Let’s go get your cube.”

“Really,” asked said prince excitedly.

“Just please no more detours, or heartfelt speeches, all right?” she said with a smirk.

“Hey, guys, can we-“ began Ezran as they walked.

“We’re not stopping yet,” said Rayla firmly.

“But I’m-“

“No snacks!”

“I was going to say thirsty.”

“Fine,” she said and handed a small bottle with a red liquid.

Ezran went to grab it, but Callum stopped him.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s moonberry juice,” explained Rayla, offended.

“Just making sure. Ez has a habit of putting anything in his mouth that resembles food,” explained Callum with an amused smirk.

“It was only that one time!” protested the little prince, earning a chuckle from Callum.

Rayla decided to let it go, chalking it up to humans are weird. They have arrived at the Winter Lodge, taking cover behind a tree. The building looked abandoned.

“See? No winter, no humans at the _winter_ lodge,” said Callum smugly.

“Let’s just make this quick,” grumbled Rayla. “Tell me where the thing is and I’ll be in and out.”

“Actually, I think we should all go inside.”

“Why?”

“Because I think we can get some money and supplies from there. It may not be much, but it will be something.”

“Why would we need money?”

“To buy food.”

“From a village? A _human_ village?" she asked before she shook her head. "No, we're not going to a human village."

“Look, I understand why you wouldn’t want to approach a human village…”

“Do you?” she asked sarcastically.

“But I promise we won’t spend the night. We need food, Rayla. Real food. We can’t live on moonberries alone,” Callum continued, ignoring her sarcasm.

“Fine,” Rayla relented eventually. “I’ll go and opened the door for you.”

_I swear humans do have magic. How else I got to convince to be here in the first place?_

Once they entered they split up. Ezran and Rayla searched the ground floor while Callum went upstairs. Besides the cube he had managed to find and bigger backpack, 2 gold, 5 silver, and 1 copper coin. Enough to buy decent food for 3 people for a couple of days_._ He found nothing of worth in the game room and went to search his parents’ bedroom. He had found several jewels his mother used to wear to banquets and other social gatherings and pocket them. He felt bad for even thinking to sell them, but should they need money for emergencies, like a doctor, it was a good thing to have them and be sorry later. He then went to raid his aunt’s room, but he didn’t find anything worth value. Unlike his mother, his aunt didn’t care for pretty accessories. The only thing she had worth noting is her collection of swords and shields. Looking at them, he picked a broadsword and a shield that weren’t too heavy. He may suck at sword fighting, but he could keep himself alive long enough to make an escape plan or have Rayla save him should his magic fail him. As he was about to leave, he spotted an armor set on a stand. It looked like the armor the decorated knights of Katolis wear, but the design is much older. The armour was lighter than Soren’s with chainmail protecting the upper body instead of plates with a brown coat over the chainmail, the left arm was completely wrapped by plate as it was the arm that held the shield, while the right one had only rough leather and chainmail protection. The helm was a standard one with a visor that can be lifted. Also unlike Soren's armor, the armor had no cape with the Katolis symbol on it being on the coat instead. While he always considered that wearing armor was cool, Callum was under no illusion that he could be able to wear it, yet despite that, he couldn't help but feel drawn to it.

“Callum! What’s taking so long?” Rayla asked impatiently.

The young prince turned to leave, however, he felt a bit reluctant to do so. He shook his head, he had better things to do.

“Sorry, for keeping you waiting. Did you find anything?” he asked his companions.

Rayla shook her head. "The food has long become rotten. We couldn't find anything else. You?"

"I found some coins that should be able to buy some foundation for a couple of days and other supplies."

“Did you find your cube thingy?”

“Yes, we can go now.”

“Finally!” exclaimed the former assassin, eager to leave.

Just as they exited the lodge a horn was heard and all three travelers froze as a group of soldiers came. Callum recognized the one leading them, his aunt, General Amaya.

“Quick, get inside and locked the doors. Use one of the windows from the back to exit through and hide in the forest,” Callum told Rayla.

“What about you? If you are found you will be brought back,” she asked concerned.

“The one leading the troops is our aunt, we’ll be fine. It’s you who is in danger. Go now, we’ll find you later.”

Rayla shook her head. “Not without the egg.”

“I don’t think so. How do I know you won’t run with it?”

Rayla’s expression showed her indignation clearly. “Are you serious?”

“Guys, now’s not the time,” said Ezran pacify. “Rayla, go, hurry.”

The elf reluctantly did as she was told. The boys were happy to see their aunt, only that the circumstances were bad. She has given them the letter their father sent to her, explaining her presence here.

“So, you haven’t heard from dad since you go the letter?” asked Callum as casually as he could.

“No, why? Is he alright?” Glen translated for Amaya.

“Ah, no, he is fine. I was just curious, that’s all,” he said, trying to convince her, but something told him that he did a poor job. His aunt was not easy to fool.

They decided to skip lunch and went upstairs instead, thinking about how they could sneak out without being noticed. The troops are searching the perimeter for intruders and that could be used to their advantage since they are paying attention to the princes. They would have to wait until the sun to set if their escape could have better chances of success. He had seen from his room a boat on the river that they could use to escape.

“Callum, why can’t we tell aunt Amaya about Rayla and the egg?” asked his little brother.

“We can’t Ez. To her, elves are monsters.”

“But if we just explain everything…”

“It won’t work. Elves and humans don’t trust each other. That won’t change until we get the egg back to Xadia. We need to get out of here, find Rayla and then flee.”

Callum found himself staring himself again at that armor.

Amaya knocked on the door to make her presence known. ‘It belongs to your father, your biological father,' she signed.

‘My father? Did you know him?’

‘Yeah,’ she signed with a reminiscing smile. ‘He was not the best warrior, but he was determined, fierce, funny, loyal, kind and smart. He never took up arms to kill, only to protect those he cared about and innocents and saw all life precious, whether human or elf. He had been in love with your mother since he first saw her and chased after her.’

‘What happened to him?’

‘He died at the Breach, protecting me. You would have loved him Callum and he would have loved you too.’

He looked at the armor. He didn't know his biological father and there he didn't grieve his loss, but he couldn't help wanting to meet him and wondered how things would have been if he were alive from time to time. ‘Why did you keep his armor?'

‘Actually, your mother kept it. She didn’t keep it in her and Harrow’s room because she didn’t want to rub it in the king’s nose that she still loved her first husband, even if Harrow understood that she loves both of them. So, she asked me if I could keep it here and I agreed.’

Callum looked back at the armor and realized why he felt so drawn to it. It belongs to his father, the only memento he had of him.

‘I will leave alone,’ Amaya signed and left.

Callum stared at the armor some more. It wasn't a good idea. It would be heavy to carry it and also to wear it. He would only slow him down, but that didn’t stop him from taking it from the stand and shoving it in his backpack. Surprisingly it wasn’t as heavy as he thought it would be. The brothers had managed to get out of the lodge and enter the forest without being seen.

“Hey,” whispered Rayla as she made her presence known. “Took you long enough. I had thought you have abandoned me.”

“Sorry,” Callum said, choosing to ignore the not-so-subtle accusation.

Suddenly and an arrow flew by and pinned one of Rayla’s braids to a tree.

“Run!” said Callum as he led them.

They arrived at the boat and once everyone was on it, Callum rowed with all his might, losing their pursuers.

Amaya was confused. Her nephews had gone with an elf, voluntarily from her perspective. She was about to order her troops to follow them when a soldier came with a letter from the capital. She read it, her eyes grew wide with shock. She then ordered Corvus to follow them from a distance and if the chance arises he should free the princes without endangering them then ordered the rest of her troops to follow her to the capital. She had a coronation to stop.

“That was a close one,” exclaimed Callum with a sigh.

“Yeah, it was. I hope it was worth it to put us all in danger,” grumble Rayla.

Callum took the cube from his backpack and stared it. He noticed the dull glow the moon symbol had. Out of curiosity, he pointed it at Rayla, who had her back to him. The glow got brighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)


	3. Chapter 3

Rayla grunted in frustration as she tried to cut the ribbon before it destroys her hand, but to no avail. With one final frustrated yell, she stabbed the sword on the ground.

_It’s useless, I can’t cut it. I guess this is the price I have to pay for trying to kill innocents, for dooming Runaan and the others._ _Maybe that’s why they left. They saw that I was rotten and left._

She pulled her knees close to her, burying her head in them. Maybe it was okay to cry? After all, there was no one here.

“Help!” Callum’s voice shouted and Rayla was pulled back from her guilt and misery. She sprinted and jumped through the trees, reaching their camp in a matter of seconds. She gaped at what she saw. The stupid human prince held lightning in his hand, looking scared. "Help!" he said again.

“He tried to copy Claudia’s lightning spell, but he doesn’t remember the last part,” explained Ezran behind a rock.

"But I'm very good at the first part," Callum said lamely.

“Are you crazy? Do you know how dangerous this is?” lectured Rayla.

“Lecture well deserved received, now please help me.”

“When you release a spell there is usually a word or a phrase in ancient dragonic.”

“Well, I don’t speak dragon, do you?”

“You didn’t hear Claudia say anything?”

“No, I mean I think when I grabbed her hand away she called me a fool.”

Rayla nodded. “Fool seems about right. I know a few dragonic words, let me think.”

As she thought a smile crept on Callum’s face. “You know, I’m going to throw you the Primal Stone.”

Rayla looked at him like he lost his mind. “What? No!”

“I’m just going to toss it to you, gently.”

“No! No tossing or throwing!”

Callum nodded. “Tossing it is,” he said before he tossed the stone at her.

Rayla raised her arms protectively and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she didn’t need a mirror to look at to know her hair was a mess. Callum’s attempt to stop himself from smiling was enough of a tell.

_I’m going to beat him to death_

“Sorry about that,” the stupid prince said as he brushed himself off. “I guess I’m just so excited to learn magic that I got carried away.”

Rayla brushed her hair back into its normal shape, annoyed. “Okay, enough almost-killing me. The sooner we return this egg, the sooner, maybe, this war can end. It’s time to hit the road,” she said before tossing the stone back to Callum.

“Road? Why wear ourselves out when we can let the river do the walking for us?” he asked

She froze for a moment, but recover quickly so the elder prince would not notice. “No. Say goodbye to that boat. We go by land from here.”

"But why? The river is going in the right direction and moves faster than we could on foot. I mean look at those legs," he said and pointed at Ezran’s small legs.

“Hey, I have great legs,” the young prince said

“We’re waking. That’s final,” she said, her tone brooking no room for arguments and turned to walk away.

“Is there maybe another reason why you don’t want to take the boat? Something you’re not telling us?” he asked and she saw that smug smirk he had in her mind’s eye.

_Just drop it off, already_

“No, there is no secret reason,” she said unable to meet his gaze.

“So, wait,” he said, trying not to chuckle. “You’re this, flipping, tree climbing, sword fighting elven warrior, but you’re afraid of a little splish-splash.”

She opened her mouth to retort, but close it since she had nothing. _Damn him and his observant side._

“Aww, that’s cute,” cooed Ezran.

“Fine, we’ll take the stupid boat,” she said walking towards the boat, looking like a storm. _There is no way I’m going to look weak in front of humans_.

It was only when the boat went down the river did she realized she did what they wanted.

_Dammit it!_

As they sailed, Rayla got sicker. Callum talked about why Bait was named such to keep her mind occupied. While she appreciated the gesture, it did little to help. Eventually, he stopped talking and let her be for a while until he spoke again. “How are you feeling?” he asked concerned.

“Great. That’s why I’m down here. Because I love boats so much. I want to be closer to the boat,” she said as she tried not to vomit.

Because she was with her back to him, Rayla missed the guilt that flashed on Callum’s face. He figured out she was afraid of water and thought that it would be a good opportunity for her to face her fear. But he had known she was also seasick he wouldn’t have taunted her into taking the boat. _Why didn’t she tell me? Is her pride more important than her health?_

“Tell you what. I’m going to ask you five questions.”

“Please, don’t,” groaned the former assassin, her complexion pale.

“Come on. It’ll be a fun distraction to take your mind off things,” he pleaded. Knowing he wouldn’t stop pestering her and not having enough strength to put a better resistance, Rayla eventually accepted. “Okay, question one. We always hear all these crazy things about Xadia. Like, it was this place with magic everywhere, it’s that true?”

“Yes, next question,” she said.

But Callum wouldn’t let her off with such a simple answer. “It must be so weird that everywhere you look there is magic.”

She frowned in contemplation. “It’s not weird. In Xadia, magic is pretty much in everything. It’s no different than saying ‘everywhere you look there is nature’. It’s just part of the vibrance or spirit of things you know?” she said

“I can’t wait to see that, sounds incredible,” said the prince impressed.

“Yeah, it is,” she said with a reminiscing smile. She remembered the time she spent in the forest at night, training and saw the wisps dancing. And on the full moon when the entire Moonshadow territory transformed it’s breathtaking.

“See, it’s working. Don’t you feel a little better?” the asked with a kind smile.

She smiled back. He was right, thinking about home did help. “Maybe,” she said coyly. “Next question.”

“Okay. What are your parents like?”

Her good mood evaporated instantly. “They’re dead,” she said, turning away. _Which isn’t a total lie per say. They _are _dead to me_.

“Rayla, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine,” she said, too caught up in her thoughts to notice the boat speeding up.

The next couple of minutes had been the worse minutes of her entire life while the princes were having a blast. She was so scared that she admitted, to _two humans_ no less, that she was afraid of water. Eventually, the boat stopped, but they were still in danger as a large creature knocked them off it. Fortunately for Rayla, she ended up on land where, in joy, she started to kiss the ground. The princes and their pet, however, ended up in the lake. Bait was the one was in the most danger as the creature was solely fixated on him. Rayla didn’t know why she would go back into the thing she hated and feared the most for a glow toad that heated her.

_Because I don’t want anyone, even creatures hurt._

It was true. Back when she was training to be an assassin she would hunt into the forest and bring the pray alive, letting others kill it. Even after the creature was cooked she wouldn't eat much thinking that it was once a living being. Runaan told her that it was alright, that it was the Circle of Life, but while that convinced Rayla to have meat on several occasions, she never accepted that philosophy. It was why her diet mostly consisted of vegetables and fruits. She could never end her pray’s live which made the others doubt that she would ever be an assassin.

_Guess they were right. Not that I’m complaining_

So she went and saved Bait, but she found herself way over her head. If it weren’t for Callum, who used that half-lightning spell on the beast, she and Bait would have been fish food.

“Rayla, you saved Bait. Without you he would have been,” Ezran said, covered his pet’s years and whispered. “Fish food.”

“That was brave, Rayla,” commented Callum.

“No, I told you I’m afraid of water,” she said.

“I know. That’s what you did was so heroic.”

“Oh, thanks,” she hadn’t expected that.

“Why wouldn’t you just tell us about your fear before? It’s okay to fear things,” said the little prince.

“I guess I was afraid of being afraid,” she said and the princes said nothing, letting her organize her thoughts. “The thing is Moonshadow elves aren’t supposed to show fear. Ever.”

“That’s sad,” commented Ezran.

“It’s our way,” responded Rayla with a shrug. “My parents aren’t really dead, but I wish they were. They’re cowards!” she spat with venom.

“What do you mean?” asked Callum.

“My parents were part of an elite force, the Dragon Guard, eight elven warriors chosen to protect the egg of the Dragon Prince. Storm Dragons only lay eggs every thousand years. So, that egg is so rare and precious. But when the humans came and killed the Dragon King, the Dragon Guard, my parents, failed in their duty. They ran away, I’m so ashamed.”

Callum put his hand on her shoulder. “Rayla, I’m sorry for what the humans did,” he said sincerely.

That surprised her. “So, you see that’s why I have to make things right. At first, this was a quest for revenge, not it’s a journey for redemption.”

“We’re in this together,” he said.

The sound of water splashing made them turn and look at the boat going down the lake.

“Oh, no. Our boat seems to be drifting away. It’s out of my reach,” Rayla said in a tone that was not at all disappointed to be rid of the boat. To her horror, the boat, somehow, reached the shore, right at her feet. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. She saw Callum come near her and pushed the boat away. “Thank you,” she said, her heart lighter now. The young prince smiled reassuringly in return.

They had made camp deeper into the forest. Only Callum and Rayla were still awake.

“Rayla,” said Callum.

“Yeah?”

“About what you said earlier, that Moonshadow elves aren’t supposed to show fear. I think it’s stupid.”

“How so?” she asked, curious, not offended, for now.

"Well, for one. Every sentient being has fears, whether elves or humans. Suppressing it won't make you fearless, but facing it will."

“I don’t know Callum, I’m still afraid of water.”

“But if Ezran or I were to drown, would you jump into water to save us?”

“Yes,” she answered without thinking. There was no need for that.

Callum smiled. “See, you just surpassed your fear. You still fear water and that’s fine, but when the moment comes you won’t freeze or run away. You'll face it head-on and win."

Rayla thought for a moment before she realized that he was right. “I never thought about it this way before.” As silence settled again between them she thought about their journey so far. Callum and Ezran had been there for her when her kinsman who shunned her away because of her parents. Callum did his best to comfort her and didn't mock her when she admitted she was afraid. In fact, he even called her brave and believed in her. No one, but Runaan did that. That gave a feeling she didn’t know how to describe. “Callum?”

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to apologize for trying to kill you and Ezran.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

Of course, he would say that. He wasn't one to hold grudges because he was that good of a person. Which only made her feel worse about it. "How can you forgive so easily? I nearly killed you and your brother," she said drew her legs close to her chest to hide her face.

“I don’t think you wanted to kill Ez and I. You had plenty of opportunities to do so. When I told I was Prince Ezran you could just stab me on the spot without talking to me. When we were in the secret laboratory you still let Ez show you the egg, even though he tricked you at first. I think that even if there was no egg of the Dragon Prince you would still spare me and Ez.”

“I don’t know, Callum,” she said unsure.

The prince got close to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Rayla, trust me on this. You’re a good person.”

As she looked at him and his kind, sincere smile the feeling she felt earlier came back with more force. “Thank you,” she said with a smile.

“Since we’re apologizing for stuff we did, I also want to say I’m sorry.”

“For what?” she asked confused. _What would he have to apologize about?_

“For putting you in danger since this journey began. Back at the Winter Lodge, and this morning when I tossed you the Primal Stone. You were right, what I did was dangerous and could have killed you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. And you were right about taking supplies from the Lodge.”

“I promise you, I won’t ever put you in danger.”

She opened her mouth to say how she appreciated the thought, when the ribbon on her wrist tighten, making her hiss in pain.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

“It’s fine, just a small strain from today’s excitement,” she lied and when she saw his concern look she added. “Don’t worry, we Moonshadow elves have a small regeneration factor. We can heal minor injuries, including strains. I will be fine by tomorrow.”

“Okay,” he said, still concerned but dropped it for now. "Are you sure you still want to take the first shift?"

“Yeah, don’t worry. I can’t sleep just yet after today.”

He nodded and went to sleep. Left alone, Rayla looked at the ribbon on her wrist. She had given up trying to cut it off.

_This is my punishment_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)


	4. Chapter 4

_They were on the bench in the castle courtyard under the shade of the tree. It was spring and the tree had blossomed, flowers gently falling from it behind her, making her look even more beautiful. She looked at him, her stunning emerald eyes looking at him shyly but with love, her red lips that begged to be kissed. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for since he first laid her eyes on her. He leaned in and kissed her softly. He smiled, her breath still smelled like peanut butter._

_Callum!_

_He grabbed the back of her head and gently pulled her closer._

_Callum! Wake up!_

_Suddenly the world turned white and he couldn’t make out anything._

* * *

Callum groaned as he woke, taking in the unfamiliar place. It took a moment for him to realize where he was.

“Callum, Rayla is missing!”

That woke him up. He bolted upright and looked for the egg. “Did she take it?” he asked, panic clear in his voice.

“No,” his brother said and Callum relaxed.

“Good. That doesn’t mean we can trust her.”

His little brother looked angry. “Why? Because she’s an elf? That’s-“

Callum stopped him by gently placing his hand on his shoulder. “That’s not it. I mean she doesn’t tell us everything. I can feel it.”

Ezran was still not happy but decided to let it go and went to packing. "Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

Callum froze. He was lucky that he had his back to Ezran and couldn’t see his face. “Really? What do I say?” he asked as nonchalant as he could.

“Something about peanut butter.”

“Ah, I must have dreamed about sandwiches.”

“You seemed weirdly excited about sandwiches.”

Callum chuckled. “When you’re old enough we’re going to have a serious talk about sandwiches,” he said.

“Go, go, go. We have to move,” ordered Rayla as she sprinted past the princes.

“Why? What’s going on? Where were you?” asked Callum.

“We should eat something first,” said Ezran.

Rayla groaned. “There is no time. We have to get moving now,” the former assassin said in annoyance.

“Rayla, why? You have to at least explain-“

“I don’t have to explain anything to you! Let’s go!” she snapped and left.

Callum glared at her back and slapped the broadsword to his hip and the shield to his back. On the way, he thought that if the worse became a reality if Rayla did betray them, he had to find a way to stop her. A part of him felt bad for thinking this way, but he quickly crushed it. If Viren had shown himself a traitor after knowing the man his whole life, even considered him as a future father-in-law, then who’s to say that Rayla, a _Moonshadow elf_, wouldn’t betray them? He wasn’t as strong or fast as Rayla and he doubted even Soren could beat her in a sword fight, but he had an ace up his sleeve: magic. The prince doesn’t know if the former Assassin had faced someone with magic before, but from what he saw from her interaction with Claudia he would bet on no. The only problem was that he barely knew two spells and he was reluctant to use the lightning spell since it could kill them both. So, only _Aspiro _remained but would it be enough? And even if he could beat her, then what? She is their only guide into Xadia. Who knows what kind of danger they would face once they entered elf territory? He sighed, the situation had become complicated with no good solution in sight. For now, he would wait and see.

“Wait,” she said and the group stopped. “The path is too easy.”

"You're joking," he said in a deadpan tone. "'The path is too easy'? Since when such a thing exists?"

“It’s well worn, it’s flat, it’s soft. Sooner or later we’re going to run into somebody. We need to go up that way,” she said and pointed towards the mountain. “Tougher terrain is safer for us. The tougher the better.”

“That sounds terrible,” commented Callum.

“Exactly.”

“This is already tough enough,” complained Ezran. “Do you have any idea how heavy this egg is?”

“No, I don’t. Because you won’t trust me to carry it,” shot back Rayla.

“Well, should we trust you? Have you told us the truth about everything?” asked the older prince.

The elf let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine, keep carrying the extremely heavy egg. But quit crying about it. We’re going up this way,” she snapped and stormed off.

_I’ll take that as a no. I don’t understand what has gotten into her all of sudden. Her taking the egg now wouldn’t make sense, she had that opportunity early on when we escaped Claudia. But now she’s acting weird and closed herself off again. Something happened this morning. Did she have contact with an agent from Xadia? Could it be that she is leading us into a trap to take us prisoners? Is that why we’re going up the mountain? Makes sense when you think about it._

Callum looked at Rayla’s back and gripped his sword.

_If that is true, what can I do?_

Suddenly a memory surfaced to his mind.

* * *

_The two princes were in a classroom with Viren. The High Mage was teaching them history._

_“And with the discovery of Dark Magic, the dragons and the elves banished us from Xadia,” concluded Viren. Callum raised his hand. “Yes?”_

_"Why did they exile us?" a young Callum asked._

_“They were afraid of us, afraid of the power humanity wielded and so they stroke preventively and exiled us?”_

_“What does preventively mean?” asked little Ez._

_"Preventively means to prevent expected aggression by hostile forces."_

_“What? But we were no threat to them. We just discovered a new type of magic!” exclaimed Callum_

_Viren smiled. “You are too young to understand this now, but it will come a time when you are faced with a similar situation and you will understand what I meant now.”_

* * *

Callum blinked and was back in the present again. He now understood Viren’s lesson and he realized the dark mage was wrong. Attacking someone just because they _might_ betray you is not right. Everyone deserves the presumption of innocence, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be wary of them. With that he relaxed as best as he could and followed Rayla, praying that she wouldn’t stab him in the back.

“All right,” Rayla said and stretched, the grouped stopped. “Let’s stop and eat, I’m starving.”

"What food? We have none since you didn't go to collect any fruits this morning, remember?" pointed out Callum.

Rayla smirked. “Well, I suppose I can share my moonberry juice with you,” she said and reached for the bottle only to find it empty. “What?! Who went through my stuff?” she raged.

It turns out Bait had drunk the last bottle of juice, invoking Rayla’s ire. Now she was arguing with Ezran, who defended the pet, even though it was clear he drank it.

Callum sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He was hungry, frustrated and tired of looking behind him expecting an ambush. “Let’s just get down from this damn mountain and then we’ll find some food. Rayla, you take point,” he ordered and surprisingly the elf did what he said without arguing.

“Rayla, can we slow down?” asked a weary Ezran, but the elf pretended not to hear.

“Rayla! Slow down!” Callum ordered, his voice hard as steel. The elf glared at the prince but did as told.

“I just need to put this down a second and catch my breath,” panted the little prince.

“There is a solution you know,” said Rayla. The princes said nothing. “You know I could just take it any time I wanted, right?”

The elder prince glared at her. “You sure know how to get people to trust you, Rayla. You must have tons of friends back home with that attitude,” Callum said sarcastically, unknowingly striking a nerve.

Rayla didn’t let it show that his comment bothered her and noticed how the prince’s hand lightly brushed his sword handle. “But I don’t. That’s the point!”

“Maybe the egg isn’t the only thing you’re after,” he said, his tone cold as ice.

“What do you mean?!” asked a frustrated Rayla.

“Maybe you’re just dragging us into a trap. After all, we are the heirs to the throne of Katolis. Xadia would have the golden goose should we fall into their clutches.”

Rayla felt like she had just been slapped. “What? Is that what you are really thinking? We don’t care about political prisoners. It’s not our way.”

"Then why are we here, on this God-forsaken mountain?!" the elder prince yelled, the frustration and paranoia had finally reached a breaking point.

“Guys, you need to stop,” said Ezran as he got between them. “Look,” he said and pointed to the cracked ice. “Your yelling will cause an avalanche.”

The two teenagers stopped yelling at each other and walked away in silence. However, Bait let out a mighty burp and caused an avalanche. The group tried to outrun it, but it was too fast for them. In their desperate attempt to flee, the princes discovered that Rayla’s right hand is badly damaged. Callum used _Aspiro_ to keep the avalanche away and he was quite successful. If he had taken a deeper breath he would have been able to keep it all away, but he eventually ran out of breath and the snow took them. Fortunately, most of the avalanche has been blown away, and they were buried into a superficial layer of snow. Unfortunately, Ezran and the egg had ended up on a frozen lake. The young prince grabbed the egg and the ice started to crack.

Callum’s heart leaped into his throat, cold fear creeping up his body. “Ez, hold on,” he called and threw his belongings and started to make his way towards his brother, Rayla right behind him.

Callum grabbed the egg and turned to move, but the ice cracked below him. “What do we do now?” asked Ezran, afraid.

Callum looked at the egg and then to Rayla. There is only one way they would be able to get out of here alive and that is to trust the former assassin. It was a strange thing, but in this moment of life and death, his head is clear. He realized that Rayla could have captured them that night when she begged her leader to withdraw. When he refused she fought him off to buy them time to warn their father. Even though she acted weird this morning, Rayla gave no indication that she would betray them. “Now, I’m giving you the egg. I’m sorry that I was a jerk before Rayla. I _do_ trust you and we’re lucky to have you as our friend,” he said with an apologetic smile.

All the guilt that Rayla bottled up erupted like a geyser. “No, wait. I don’t deserve your trust, not yet. I need to tell you the truth. This morning, the big rush was because I was attacked by a human. I fought him off but it was hard. Because of this,” she said and held up the ritual ribbon.

“You don’t need to do this right now,” Callum said. While he appreciated her honesty, now is a bad time.

“Yes, I do. This is an assassin’s binding. A Moonshadow elf ritual. Before I met you I swore an oath. I bound myself…to end Prince Ezran’s life. And this binding will never come off while he is alive. It will just get tighter and tighter until I lose my hand. But I’m ready to pay that price.”

“Thank you for telling us, but we need to focus on the situation.”

“There is one more thing.”

_For crying out loud!_

“The night I met you something bad happened.”

“There is no time, Rayla,” said Callum who noticed the ice cracking.

“Callum, I need to tell you. The King-“

“Just take it!”

Callum handed her the egg, but she grabbed it with her right hand which hurt a lot and dropped the egg into the ice water.

“You dropped it!” exclaimed Callum horrified.

“I told you my hand is messed up!” defended Rayla.

“Then use the other hand!”

“Stop arguing! We’ve got to do something,” said Ezran before plunging after the egg.

“Ez, no!” yelled and was about to go after him if Rayla hadn’t grabbed him. “Get off me!” he roared and freed himself from her grasp only for her to grab him again.

“Wait. He’ll get it. He’ll save the egg. We have to believe in him and we need to be up here to pull him out.”

“He’s just a kid!”

“He’s brave and strong. He can do this.”

Callum said nothing, shrugged her hand off him and went near the pond. Agonizing seconds turned into agonizing minutes.

“You were wrong. He is not coming back,” Callum said horrified as he brought his hand up to his mouth, hot tears almost spilling from his eyes. He could feel his heart shattering into a million pieces. He almost didn’t hear Rayla saying that as long as the binding is attached to her hand, Ez is alive.

Rayla was able to locate Ezran and managed to drag him from the cold water with Callum's help. The boy was fine, which brought teens much-needed relief. However, this relief didn't last long as the group noticed the glow the egg has become dull.

* * *

Soren tried to eat away the awful feeling that had taken root in the pit of his stomach since the talk with his father with no success. Claudia tried to cheer him up, in her own special way, but couldn't. His sister mentioned she had an interesting talk with their father too, but wouldn’t share it with him. Not that he blamed her, Soren couldn’t tell her what he talked with him either. The young knight looked at the castle who stood tall over the small village he was in and remembered the talk he had with his father on the battlements. The awful feeling got worse. How could his father suggest such a thing? He knew his father cared deeply for the kingdom, but this is too extreme. Surely there is a better way to keep the kingdom safe than this?

“Soren, come on! We have to go!” Claudia called.

The young knight pushed these thoughts at the back of his mind. He had a job to do. And he prayed that the princes were beyond his reach.

* * *

An hour had passed since they found the cave they were in and Rayla had gone to look for food, but Callum wasn't worried. He trusted that the elf could handle herself just fine even with her injured hand. But there was something she said that got him thinking. At first, he occupied himself by drying Ezran’s clothes and keeping him warm. After he was done and made sure his brother was all tucked in the sleeping back he had nothing else to do. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally. But the thought wouldn’t leave, despite his weariness. It scrapped at the back of his head, making him unable to rest.

Eventually, Rayla returned. “Hey. I managed to find some fruits. How are they doing?” she asked.

“Ez will be fine. The egg however still has that dull glow.”

“I see,” she said and rubbed her right hand.

“Rayla, there is something I want to ask you.”

“What?”

He gulped, gathering whatever strength he had left. “You said that you bound yourself, and the bind is part of a Moonshadow elf ritual and it won’t come off unless Ez dies. You also said that time you cornered me in Viren’s chamber that there were two targets that night: him and King Harrow,” he said his voice clear and void of emotions. “My question is: was there a second bind?”

Rayla said nothing, choosing instead to stare at her boots, unable to meet his gaze.

“I see,” he said eventually, in the same emotionless tone. She chanced a glance at him and her heart broke. Callum tried to stay strong, but his body was shaking, his breathing was ragged and tears ran freely from his eyes. “I knew, deep down I knew he was gone. But I held onto hope,” he said to no one in particular, his voice cracking.

Rayla sat down next to him and gently hugged him. Finding himself in her embrace Callum let the dam broke and sobbed into her shoulder. Several minutes passed until the noise woke Ezran up.

"What's going on?" the little prince asked sleepily.

Callum wiped his eyes. “It’s nothing buddy. Rayla just told me a very sad story and I got very emotional. Go back to sleep.”

The little prince quickly went back to sleep, too tired to stay awake.

Callum sighed tiredly. “This is a mess. How I am even going to tell him? And what are we going to do if we get back?”

"I wish I could help you, Callum," she said sincerely.

The prince smiled at her. “You’ve done more than enough. I’m very grateful that you’re my friend Rayla.”

Rayla felt her cheeks warm. “Y-you’re welcome.”

Callum didn’t notice, too absorbed by his problems. “If dad is dead, then I need to learn more spells if I am to deal with Viren.”

“Viren?”

“Viren is the court’s High Mage. The one who killed the Dragon King and stole the egg. The night the assassins attacked he betrayed dad and ran away.”

"Well, can't you order to have him locked up? You're next in line to be king, right?"

Callum shook his head. “No, Ezran is. He’s King Harrow’s blood. I’m his adopted son. The only way I’ll ever be king is if something were to happen to Ez.”

“But you’re still a prince. People will listen to you.”

“I thought they would too, but that night when I accused Viren of treachery, he ordered the guards to restrain me. No matter what I said, the guards wouldn’t listen to me. I am a prince in title only. And I don’t blame them at all, who would listen to step prince who sucks at everything?”

Rayla put his hand on his shoulder. “I would. Your decisions have saved our skins before and I'm sure it will again.”

Callum smiled. “Thank you, that means a lot.”

Rayla smiled back. “So, how are we going to deal with Viren?”

The older prince sighed. “Either I learn more powerful spells, gather allies from Xadia or from the Pentarchy. I don’t which one of these ideas is the right solution.”

“Well, if you deliver the egg, I’m sure the Dragon Queen would help you and the rest of Xadia would see who the real culprit is. But won’t this Viren try something until we reach Xadia?”

“Viren is after the throne, no doubt about it, but I don’t know his end goal. Now that my aunt saw us alive he won’t be able to become regent. I’m sure she has sent a search party for us by now, that soldier you fought is either part of it or just a scout who will report seeing us.”

“But can’t you reason with her? She’ll listen to you, she’s your family.”

Callum smirked. “Ez said the same thing. She’s the kind of person that swings her sword first and asks questions later. Not to mention she is protective of us. I’m pretty sure the thought of Ez and I entering Xadia would make her go nuts,” he said, and his smirked turned into a sad frown. “She lost a lot of people to Xadia. She’ll be hard to convince, but not impossible. Should we cross paths with her, Ez and I will do our best to convince her. For now, though, we need to keep moving."

Rayla nodded in agreement. “What about the egg? It doesn’t look good and I don’t think it’ll get any better.”

“We’ll need to find a village soon. There ought to be an animal doctor there.”

“Oh, yeah. ‘Cus I’m sure your human doctor knows what’s wrong with a _dragon egg_,” she said with sarcasm.

“We’ve got to try, Rayla. As you said, it won't get any better."

The elf sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. We should sleep, it was a tiring day.”

Callum nodded and got in a comfortable position, well as comfortable as he could considering they were in a cave. In a matter of minutes, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an announcement to make. From 15th September onwards I won't be able to post anymore until I settle at university. When I finally start posting again, I won't be able to post as frequent as I am now.

Callum and Ezran packed what little belongings they have and Rayla waited outside for them. As the older prince put away his stuff, he noticed the armor that laid at the bottom of his backpack and felt that familiar pull again.

“Callum, I’m done,” said his little brother.

“Wait for me outside, I’m almost done.”

* * *

Several minutes later, Callum stepped out of the cave in full armor, the visor up so that his face could be seen. The red scarf from his mother was wrapped around his neck. Ezran and Rayla gaped at him in awe.

“How do I look?” he asked with a smile.

“Awesome! I want an armor too!” said the little prince, his eyes sparkling.

“You got the looking like a knight part down, but can you walk with that hunk of metal on you?” asked Rayla

“It’s surprisingly light,” he said as he stretched.

“Where did you get it?” asked Ezran.

“It was my fathers.”

"Dad's? I don't remember seeing him wearing armor like this before.”

“Erh, no, not dad's. It belonged to my _birth_ father.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!”

* * *

The group walked until they arrived close at a town.

“We need to disguise you,” Callum told Rayla.

“Not a problem,” she said and pulled out her cloak. “Meet human Rayla! Yes, hello! I am a normal human who likes money and starting wars!” she said with a heavy accent.

“That seems about right,” giggle Ezran.

Callum was not impressed. “You got the accent down, but are you going to impersonate a fifth finger?”

The former assassin looked around and spotted a snowman and stole its gloves. Unfortunately, the fifth finger of the gloves flopped. Callum ripped two small sticks from the snowman’s arms and put them in the glove where the fifth finger was supposed to be, thus completely Rayla’s human appearance. As they walked, Callum tried to ignore the stares they received from strangers thanks to Rayla’s strange walk and talk.

_You would think an assassin would have no trouble blending with a crowd._

"I have faced things that you couldn't imagine while defending the border!" shouted a lithe man gathering the attention of nearby people. The group of adventurers got curious too. "I bet I can defeat any challenger with just my dagger. Who will challenge me? You? What about you, young knight?” the man asked as he pointed at Callum.

Outwards, Callum was the perfect picture of stoicism, but inside he was panicking. They couldn’t attract attention to them. Thankfully a large man stepped in carrying a big sword. The prince wanted to leave, but Rayla stopped him, insisting that he would want to watch. The crowd gasped in awe as the agile man cut the man’s sword like it was bread.

“What was that?” asked Callum.

“It was a Sunfire blade. They can make the blade as hot as if they had just been forged that will last for a thousand years," she explained and pointed at the dagger sheath. "See that? That sheath has runes carved on it so that it will contain the heat. Without it, his legs would be on fire."

That got Callum to think. “Rayla, if that dagger cat cut through metal like butter would you say it can cut through anything?”

The elf snorted. “It can cut through _anything_,” she said and turned to look at Callum who stared at her. Then she realized what she meant and met the smirk she knew he had behind that helmet. “I’ll be back,” she said and went to follow the duellist.

“Be careful and keep a low profile.”

“Hey, I’m an assassin!”

“Probably not a good idea to say that out loud. We’ll go find help and we’ll meet you back here at this statue when we’re done.”

* * *

An hour later the princes returned to find Rayla sitting next to it.

“How did it go?” asked Callum

Rayla showed her gloveless hand with the bind still attached to it. “The good news the bind will fall off…along with my hand.”

“I won’t give up just yet,” the armored prince said as he sat near her. He handed her some food he had brought from the market on the way. He had paid the animal doctor 5 silvers and used 1 gold coin to buy food that will last until tomorrow and still have 1 gold left. “We have heard of a miracle healer that could save the egg and you’re hand.”

“That’s great!” exclaimed happily Rayla.

“The catch is that she lives up there,” the prince said and pointed to the mountain that loomed over the town.

“Of course she does,” said Rayla with a deadpan tone.

“It’s called the Curse Caldera.”

“Please tell me is it named after the famous explorer Sir Phineas Cursed,” said the former assassin sarcastically.

Callum snorted. “I wish. It’s named after the monsters that lurked there.”

“Figures.”

Suddenly all town folk gathered to catch them because Rayla got discovered. The group was chased out of the town to the mountain. On the way, they met Ellis and Ava who offered to be their guide.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Ellis as the group watched the sunset.

Callum pulled up his visor. “Yeah,” he agreed, storing the image for later to draw it in his sketchbook.

“Too bad that the monster will come out once the sun is down,” continued the girl.

“Yeah, that’s too-wait, what?” asked the prince as the rest of the group gaped at Ellis.

“Yeah, once the sun is down, unimaginable horrors will emerge.”

“That’s just great,” said Rayla sarcastically. “We best keep moving.”

“We still won’t reach the rim until sundown. We need a plan,” said Callum.

“How do you plan for unimaginable horrors?” asked Ezran.

"How about horrifying? Blood-curdling? Creepy in a super extreme way that feels like your soul is on fire,” said Ellis.

“That helps,” quipped the young prince.

“I got it!” exclaimed the armor-clad teen. "First, Ezran will use Bait to blind the monster, next Ava will bark a lot to distract it, next I’ll use _Aspiro_ and finally Rayla you’ll cut it down. I call this plan: Flash! Woof! Whoosh! Slish-Slash!” said Callum proudly and unconsciously adopted a heroic pose as if he just vanquish a powerful enemy.

His companions, however, looked unimpressed.

“What’s _Aspiro?” _asked Ellis.

“Just a simple wind breath spell, no big deal,” said the older prince humbly.

“You’re a mage! That’s so cool!” gushed the young girl.

Callum smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his head.

“Oh, yeah. He is going to blow on the monster, ruffle its fur real good,” quipped Rayla with a smirk.

“Well, I suppose I can use the half-lighting spell I know. I would just charge at the monster and hit it.”

“And I’m just holding Bait. I’m not really doing anything,” said Ezran.

“You’re support. Every team needs a good support,” said Callum supportively.

“You know, you might be a dummy Callum, but you’re not a fool,” said Rayla with a smirk.

“Thanks,” responded the prince with a dry tone.

Rayla’s smirk faded as she realized something. “Callum, that time when you pushed Claudia’s hand away she didn’t call you a fool, but she said _Fulminis_. It’s the draconic word for lightning.”

Callum turned away from the group and drew the lightning spell rune with the Primal Stone in his hand. He took a deep breath before casting. “_Fulminis!_” Ezran and Ellis were positively bubbling with excitement. Rayla was impressed with the prince. Callum turned towards the rest of his companions with a grim. “Okay, revised plan.”

* * *

Their first encounter with the giant leech hadn't gone according to plan. Bait accidentally blinded them and everything went downhill from there. They scrambled to escape with Ezran and Rayla taking refuge on a tree and Callum, Ellis and Ava climbing on some rock.

Callum sighed as he took his helmet off. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah,” responded Rayla.

_Thank goodness._ "Sorry, my plan was such a disaster." _Which really shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point._

“Nah, your plan was fine, the execution not so much,” said Rayla reassuringly.

Callum sat down and looked at the monster who roamed below. They would have to wait until it leaves to keep going.

“So, you’re a mage,” began Ellis.

“I guess so.”

“You’re not what I expected of a mage.”

“Really? What did you expect then?”

“Someone really old with a lot of wrinkles, with a long robe and a powerful amulet. Not someone so young wearing armor.”

Callum chuckled. “Truth be told it’s not me it’s the Primal Stone. It allows me to cast magic. And the armor is not even mine, it belonged to my father. I haven't drawn this sword once."

“Maybe that ball is the source of your power, but without it’s just a ball. And maybe the armor isn't yours but without you, it would have collected dust. My point is that without you all those things are useless. You're amazing Callum!"

The teen smiled. "Thank you. And if you know someone who has a powerful amulet let me know," he quipped making the girl giggle. "But seriously, I appreciate it. Without you, we wouldn't have made it this far. You and Ava are awesome," he said and then looked at the wolf. "Can I pet her?"

Ellis nodded and Callum extended his hand slowly, to not scare the wolf, but Ava pounced on him, licking his face making him and Ellis laugh.

* * *

“Sorry I messed up the plan,” said a sullen Ezran.

“Don’t beat yourself up. If the plan didn’t flop with you, it would have when it was my turn,” said Rayla.

“What do you mean? You’re awesome at everything!”

The elf smirked. “Maybe I am awesome at everything, up until it counts. I just choke and mess things up. Do you know that I’m an assassin that hasn’t kill anyone?”

“That’s a good thing.”

“Maybe, but that leaves me without a job, a purpose.”

“But you have all those amazing skills, I’m sure you can find something you can do that you’ll enjoy.”

“Like what?”

“Hmm, how about being a full-time bodyguard for Callum and me? We would pay you."

“Yeah? How would you pay me?”

“Uhm, jelly tarts?” asked the little prince with an unsure smile.

Rayla laughed. “I’ll think about it.”

"And you shouldn't fear failure either. Did you know Callum failed a lot at his swordfight training and archery?"

“Shocking,” said Rayla with a smirk.

"But he never gave up. When Soren beat him up he got back up and tried again until he won. He fired so many arrows until he managed to hit the target in the center."

Rayla smiled softly. “He is very determined, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Even though he was horrible at it and never liked his training he still kept going at it.”

“Why though? I thought princes were free to do as they please.”

“You would think that, but it’s not that simple. We are groomed to be the future rulers of Katolis. We need to be the best in all things.”

“That’s a lot of pressure.”

“It is. But we do our best. That’s all anyone can ask of us.”

* * *

They regrouped only to be attacked by the giant leech again. Callum reminded them of the plan again and everything went great until Rayla was about to attack, but she stumbles on a rock and dropped her blade. The creature recovered from Callum's lightning and turned its attention to the helpless elf.

“Rayla!” yelled Callum

Just like the time in the castle's tunnels, Callum didn't think, he acted. He dashed forward, grabbed Rayla pushed them away just in time to avoid the creature’s attack. Just as quickly he drew his sword and threw it with all his might at it, hitting it in the gut. The leech roared in pain, which was enough to make Rayla collect herself and slash the creature, killing it.

“That was too close,” panted and exhausted and frightened Rayla. “If you hadn’t come when you did, I would-“ she cut herself off when she felt something slither up her legs.

She looked down and saw millions of tiny leeches making their way up her body. The elf screamed and curled up on the ground. A second later she felt a gentle breeze wash over her and all the leaches disappeared. Looking up she saw Callum, who had his visor up, looking at her with concern.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his tone matching his expression.

“Y-yeah,” she stammered, her heart pounding against her ribcage.

Callum gave her a gentle smile and extended his hand. “Here.”

She took his hand and besides the beating of her heart she also felt a warmth in her chest and something was off about her stomach. The prince went to grab his sword and turned towards the rest of his companions. “Are the rest of you alright?” he asked and they nodded. He looked at Rayla from the corner of his eye and while her breathing had calmed down, she held her hand at her chest. “Let’s take a minute to collect ourselves. Good job everyone!”

As the group walked up the mountain, Rayla couldn’t help but feel bad about killing the giant leech.

_It gave us no choice, it was either it or us._

Even so, the thought didn’t ease her mind. She remembered the tiny leeches. Were they its children? If so, she killed their mother. The thought made her feel worse.

_If I feel like this about killing a giant leech, how will_ _feel if I kill a human or Gods forbid, an elf? No, I shouldn't think like that. The leech was a creature, driven only by hunger. Humans and elves have a conscience. They know what is right and wrong. I am strong, I can beat most anyone that comes our way without killing._ _But if I do fight someone who is as powerful as me or more. I hold myself back a lot while fighting. What if I find myself in the same situation as with the leech: them or us?_

She looked back and Callum and Ezran who were chatting amicably with Ellis.

_Thinking about this now is moot. I’ll know the answer when the time comes. But I hope I’ll never have to._

* * *

“We’re almost there,” announced Ellis.

“Oh, no,” said Ezran suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” asked Callum.

“Even if manage to reach the rim, it won’t matter. There is no magic healer,” he said shocking everyone. “There is no healer, I’m sorry.”

“Stop being mysterious. If you’re going to make a claim like that then you own everyone an explanation,” said Callum.

“Ava said-“

Callum groaned. “Here we go again,” he said, annoyed. Callum loved his brother to death but there were some things that his little brother did that annoyed him to death too. For instance, the idea that he could talk to animals.

“No! It’s true! I can understand animals.”

"Well, did you ask Bait? He might disagree. Or maybe we can find an opinionated squirrel around here somewhere," said the older prince snarkily.

“I knew you wouldn’t listen to me!”

“And with good reason!”

“Ezran, I’m listening to you,” said Rayla gently as she kneeled before the young prince. “But it is pretty hard to believe.”

“I’ve always been different. It’s hard for me to make friends with other kids. I just feel like I don’t fit in.”

“That’s okay. Fitting in is kinda boring anyway,” said the elf reassuringly.

“But with animals. I feel like I have a connection. And a few years ago I learned that I could understand what they are saying,” Ezran said as he stroke bait, making the glow toad croak.

Callum looked at his brother with skepticism. He didn't even bother to raise his visor like he used to. "Can you believe this?"

“Why would he lie?” defended Rayla.

"Because he is a kid? Because he is afraid to go up the mountain?"

“I’m not afraid.”

“Come on, Ez. Just tell the truth. The first time he did this I asked him to prove it, so Ezran said that a group of raccoons had told him there was a treasure behind a waterfall. But when I went to the waterfall, did I found a treasure?"

"No…," he said sully.

“But did my underwear get soaked?”

“Yes…”

“Case closed.”

"The raccoons were being mischievous. I have since learned that you cannot trust raccoons," defended the little prince.

“This is ridiculous! See, this why you can’t make friends.”

“Callum, back off!” said Rayla as she got between him and his little brother.

“Do you believe Rayla?” asked Ezran with hope in his voice.

“Yes, do you believe him Rayla?” mocked Callum.

The former assassin glared at the prince who wasn’t apologetic in the slightest before turning to the young boy. “Does it matter?” she asked defeated.

“Translation: no, no she doesn’t,” quipped the older prince, ignoring the glare he received from her.

"I believe you, Ez,” said Ellis. “But I also know there is a miracle healer because I have my Ava.”

“We wasted enough time. We need to keep moving,” said Callum, his voice firm and commanding.

As they walked the group heard moaning coming from bushes. Ezran convinced Rayla to go investigate. When she returned she looked shaken, clutching her hand close to her chest.

“What’s wrong? You saw something,” Callum said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

“It was barely alive and it turned to dust before my eyes…Callum, it was horrible,” she said, her voice trembling as she tried not to cry.

Callum gave her shoulder a firm squeeze as the images of the dead guards at the castle came to his mind. He shook his head to clear them away before moving in front of the group. “I’ll take point,” he announced.

The group continued walking until they heard skittering coming from all around them. Suddenly a giant spider dropped behind the group, scaring them. Callum quickly blasted with _Fulminis._ When the lightning hit the creature only webs remained.

_Did I get it?_

His answer came when the creature dropped behind the group again, making them run for cover. As the rest of the group thought on how to get past it, Ezran realized something about the spider.

“Guys, it’s going to be okay. We can just walk past it,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” asked his brother, confused.

“It’s not real.”

“Ez, this isn’t the time for games,” said Callum, annoyed.

“It’s not a game, I’ll prove it to you,” he said and was about to walk up the spider when a strong hand grabbed his arm.

"No, you're not!" Callum said as he held onto him.

“Let go of me!” yelled the young boy as he struggled against his older brother’s hold with no success.

“Knock it off, Ezran!” yelled Callum back.

“Why don’t you believe me?! Why can’t you just take my word for it?! I thought you were going to have my back no matter what!”

Callum felt like he had just been slapped. He gently let go of his brother and lowered his head in shame. Ezran was right, he never believed him without proof. Why was that so hard for him to do? How does he always manage to hurt his brother? He let the shield from his back down along with the Primal Stone and stabbed the sword on the ground, ignoring the confused looks of his companions.

“I do trust, Ezran. I trust you with my life,” he said as he walked towards the giant spider, ignoring the cries of Ellis and Rayla.

He approached the giant spider, ignoring all of his instincts that yelled at him to run away. When he was close enough, it roared at him but did nothing else. He reached a shaky hand to touch it and half-way he felt someone grab his arm. He looked and saw it was Ezran who was giving him an encouraging smile. The shaking stopped and he touched the spider, but to his surprise, his hand passed right through.

“Guys, it’s fine. It’s just an illusion,” he yelled at them before turning to his brother. “Ez, I own you an apology. I’m sorry and I promise I’ll never doubt you again.”

“Well, if you mean it…”

“I do.”

“Then you know what you have to do,” said the little prince with a smirk.

Callum smiled, took off his helmet and handed it to his brother. He started the jerkface dance that his brother loved, making everyone laugh. He eventually stopped and the group arrived at the tree Ellis mention where the so-called miracle healer showed up. It turns out that the healer was just a moon mage called Lujanne and the miracle she made was just an illusion to make the humans accept Ava.

“But the help we need is real,” said Ezran as he cradled the dying egg.

“It’s dying fast. The only way to save it is to hatch it in a storm, but the sky is clear. There is no storm for miles,” the moon mage explained after examining the egg

The travelers lost all hope, Rayla and Ezran started to cry. Callum was about to break down when he remembered the special item in his possession.

“I have a storm,” he said and pulled out the Primal Stone. “Will this do?” he asked Lujanne who nodded.

“But, Callum if you do that then you won’t be able to cast magic anymore,” said Rayla.

The prince smiled at her. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Everyone, brace yourselves!”

The prince smashed the stone, releasing the storm. The winds pushed the egg closer to the edge of the cliff, fortunately, Rayla was able to catch it. The winds grew stronger and almost blew Rayla and the egg off the cliff. The former assassin stabbed one of her blades on the ground to anchor herself. She held onto her blade and egg as if her life depended on it, even when debris hit her injured hand, making her cry out in pain. Eventually, the storm stopped and the egg hatched. The little dragon, Azymondias went to each one and licked them as hello. Arriving at Rayla, he noticed her injured hand and started to lick it better.

“It’s okay little one. The important thing is that you’re safe,” she said.

Zym grabbed the binding and pulled with all of his might, successfully taking it off, shocking everyone. Rayla started to laugh both happy and relieved that the Dragon Prince and her hand were saved. Suddenly a purple cometh appear in the sky and it exploded into purple snowflakes above their head. The adventures along with their pets enjoyed the magical spectacle, unaware of the concerned look the moon mage had when she gazed at the purple snowflakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify: Callum pulls up his visor is when he stops and talks to people. He leaves it on when he walks, or when he is angry/upsets.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back. This is my longest chapter ever, I hope you'll like it. I don't think I'll write a chapter this long for some time.

It has been two days since the group arrived at the top of the Cursed Caldera, enjoying the brief respite they had.

“Good morning, everyone,” said Rayla cheerfully as she joined them for breakfast. Said breakfast consisted of Moonberries and other fruits they found around them. The group discovered that Lujanne didn’t have the necessary supplies to accommodate guests.

“You’re in a good mood,” noted Ellis.

“It’s nice to have both of my hands again. I can slish and slash with both of my swords again, I can do handsprings and I can do that thing when you finished a good song and dance,” she said and waved her hands as if to say ‘ta da’. “So, how are we all doing?” she asked and everyone answered positively. “Good, because it’s time to move!”

“No,” pouted Ellis.

“Rayla, we’ve been here for only two days,” said Callum.

“The longer we stay here, the higher the risk.”

“She is right,” said Lujanne. “The night when the Dragon Prince was born I sensed something amiss. Those strange purple wisps…Dark forces are pursing you.”

Callum narrowed his eyes. _Viren!_

“Nobody likes dark forces, which is why,” she said and used both hands to show that they had to leave.

“Making use of those two hands, huh?” said Ezran

"You bet. Besides, we have precious cargo to deliver," she said and all looked at the Dragon Prince. "War is coming like you've never seen unless we get the wee dragon back to his mum."

“But Zym, he’s so little. He still needs to learn how to fly,” said the little prince.

The moon mage chuckled. “You seem to have a connection to the dragonling. Perhaps you could teach him?” she offered.

“Me? I could try?”

“And I was hoping to learn something about Moon magic while we’re here,” said Callum.

“Hmm. I could show you some things,” the mage said which brighten the prince’s mood.

“Hey, I thought you were on my side!” exclaimed the young elf.

“A few more days, Rayla. That’s all we’re asking.”

Rayla sighed frustrated. “Fine, one extra day. No more.”

Callum nodded in appreciation.

“Callum, would you mind if you showed me your armor, please?” asked the moon mage.

“Sure.”

Callum put the pieces of the armor on the bed he shared with Ez.

“Hmm, this is interesting indeed,” said the moon mage.

“What is?”

“This armor is made by Sunfire elves for a human. That’s not something you see every day. Where did you get it?”

"It belongs to my father."

“Most interesting.”

Callum started to wonder who his birth father was now more than ever. Did he befriend an elf smith or just pillage the armor. For all, he knew the armor could have been from the time Xadia was whole and modified when it came in his possession.

“What can you tell me about it?” he asked.

"From what I can tell, besides providing a more substantial defense than your ordinary human armor, it also increases the agility, endurance, and strength of the wearer."

“Wow,” breathed Callum impressed.

“It's impressive indeed, however, this is all I can say about it since smithing is not my area of expertise. Now, I believe I promise to show you some Moon magic,” said Lujanne, pulling the prince out of his thoughts.

The history lesson he had with the moon mage had been fascinating, however, it was not what Callum had in mind when he asked if he could learn Moon magic.

“Uhm, Lujanne,” he said gaining her attention. “While I enjoyed what you taught me about Moon magic. I was hoping that you could teach me _actual_ Moon magic. Like moon bean, moon ray, moon…shine?”

“Callum, I’m sorry, but humans can’t do magic.”

“But I know humans who can do magic.”

Lujanne narrowed her eyes, her tone became hard. “We don’t call that magic. It’s an atrocity,” she said and Callum flinched slightly.

“This can’t be. I thought magic was my thing. I was good at it,” he said, heartbroken.

* * *

“’Oh, can’t we stay a bit longer so I can learn some magic tricks?’ and ‘Oh, I wanna play around with the wee dragon,’” grumbled Rayla as she patrolled the perimeter. “Humans.”

“Can you blame them? It’s not every day they have this opportunity,” chuckled a voice.

Rayla jumped and looked around for the source of the voice, but saw nothing.

“In front of you,” the voice spoke again a true to its words a person drabbed in a dark cloak with a hood covering its face.

Rayla narrowed her eyes and dropped into a fighting stance. From what she can tell the person was male and from the staff he was holding a mage. “I take it you are the dark force that has been pursuing us.”

The man scoffed. "If I wanted you to harm you we would not be having this conversation. I am merely an observant. And I wouldn’t call the people pursuing you ‘dark forces’. At best they would be ‘grey forces’.”

Despite the mage’s reassurance that he didn’t want to harm her or her friends, the elf was still on guard. “If that is true, then what are observing?”

“The natural path of a human who desires to learn magic.”

“What do you mean?”

The mage chuckled. “You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about that. Just keep protecting the princes and try not to fail at your duty again, elf,” the man said before disappearing into thin air.

* * *

Lujanne and Phoe-Phoe landed after near her room after the moon phoenix night flight.

“You’re wrong,” said a voice.

“Callum!” gasped the moon mage, surprised. “What are you doing so late?”

“I’m never giving up!” said the prince with determination.

“Callum…” began the moon mage.

“Growing up I was supposed to learn sword-fighting, archery, horse-riding, and battle tactics, but I was always bad at them."

“But then you didn’t give up? And you got good?”

“Well, I stopped sucking so much. But that’s not the point. My point is that when I did magic it felt right. It felt like I was good at something,” he said as he panted Phoe-Phoe. “I will learn magic. It’s who I am,” he declared with determination.

Lujanne sighed. “I admire your determination. But learning magic is not your destiny. You can’t do magic because you weren’t born connected to the Primal Source.”

“I don’t get it. What do you mean ‘connected’?”

“In Xadia, all creatures are connected to a Primal Source. They have a piece of it inside them. We call that piece an Arcanum.”

“What’s an Arcanum?”

“It’s like…the secret of the Primal or its meaning.”

“The secret of the Primal?”

“Yes. That secret becomes a spark. The tiniest possible flicker of a Primal Source inside of you. But enough to ignite the world with its magic.”

“Okay, so I wasn’t born with this connection inside, but if I could connect with the Arcanum I could use magic, right?” theorized Callum.

“In theory, yes,” responded Lujanne, unsure.

“Haven’t any elf mages tried something like that?”

Suddenly Lujannes’s gaze grew distant, remembering a certain Startouch elf. “I…I don’t know,” she said. She didn’t want to lie to the boy, but she also didn’t wish him following Aaravos’s path.

Callum noticed the moon mage's sudden mood shift but did not comment on it. He thought that she might be lying to him, but the prince shook that idea off. She had been most helpful and kind towards him and Ezran, despite being humans. Maybe she didn't truly know, or perhaps that reminded her of someone who tried and failed badly. "Let's try. I've got nothing to lose. So, what's the moon Arcanum?"

Lujanne looked at him with a sad and full of pity expression. “If you truly believe that, then you are naïve. But to answer your question: it’s something I just…know. It’s not easily put into words.”

“Please try.”

“Very well. The Arcanum of the moon is about understanding the relationship between appearances and reality. Most people believe that reality is truth and appearances deceiving. But those of us who know the moon Arcanum understand that we can only truly know the appearance itself. You can never touch the so-called reality that lies just beyond the reach of your own perception,” she explained using illusions to demonstrate her point.

“I’m confused,” admitted the young prince.

“I don’t blame you. You’re only human after all,” said the moon mage in an understanding tone, trying to comfort the boy, but all she did was to further increase his frustration.

Callum eventually returned to the room he shared with Ezran. He let out a forlorn sigh and sat down his bed, looking at the cube he took from the Lodge. He pointed at the Bait and Zym and found their Arcanum to be fire and air. He laid down on the bed, but couldn’t sleep. All he could think about was the feeling he had when he used magic. It was the best thing he ever felt. He felt like he finally found his place in the world. When he used magic, he felt complete, like he found something he never knew he was missing. He eventually gave up sleeping and went for a walk to clear his head. As he walked he heard the sound of grunting and swords clashing. His heart suddenly went up in his throat as he started to run towards the noise.

_Rayla! Damn it! We should have left when we had the chance, now we’re all in danger. It’s the Winter Lodge all over again!_

He pushed himself to run faster, charging straight into danger without armor or shield or weapon or magic, but he didn’t care. He knew he could do nothing against the enemy, but perhaps he could distract them long enough for Rayla to get the upper hand or fall back. He had half expected to see Viren, or some shadow wolfs, but what he saw made him relax. His oldest friends: Claudia and Soren fighting Rayla. Upon realizing that the siblings were about to kill his friend he quickly stepped in. He had managed to stop them from killing each other and Claudia even complimented his confidence and to put the cherry on top he even arranged his messy hair!

_Finally, some silver lining. Maybe things are looking up._

* * *

The next morning, the prince spends more time making himself presentable since he left the castle.

“I can’t believe Claudia has found us. I hope she’s not mad. Last time we saw her, you chained her to a wall and stole her Primal Stone, then broke her Primal Stone,” said Ezran.

“Thank you for reminding me of that,” said his older brother with a deadpan tone. Now he had something else to worry about than bad hair. “How does my hair look?”

“Hmm…Well, it could be more up. Who are you trying to impress anyway? Claudia?” asked the little prince with a smirk.

Callum froze for a second, before letting out a nervous laugh. “What do you mean? I’m not trying to impress anyone. Just cleaning myself a bit, that’s all,” he said as casually as he could, but from the look he got from his little brother, he wasn’t doing a very good job. Or Ezran could easily read him.

For the first time in what felt like forever, the group had a decent breakfast, courtesy of Claudia. To Callum’s amazement, even Rayla was enjoying the pancakes the dark mage apprentice made.

* * *

“So, now that we know that you guys aren’t kidnapped, you should come back home. With the egg, of course,” began Claudia. Rayla narrowed her eyes at her.

“Actually, there is no egg,” said Callum

"What? What happened to the egg?" asked the dark-haired girl, freaking out.

“You’ll understand in a second,” responded Callum calmly and reassuringly.

When Claudia saw Zym, Callum swore that for a second her eyes turned into red hearts. She walked, well, floated more accurately, towards the baby dragon to pet him. The young prince smiled at the sight.

Rayla got in between her and Zym. “Woah! What happened to ‘it’s not an egg, it’s a powerful weapon’?”

“Still true. Someday, it could bring death and destruction, raining down on all of us.”

Logically, Callum knew Claudia was right, but he knew from the bottom of his heart that Zym would never do that.

“But right now he’s so widdle,” continued Claudia and tried to pet him, only for her to be slapped by Rayla.

"Well, get a good look, because we're headed back to Xadia to return him to his mother,” said the former assassin.

“Rayla’s right,” Callum interjected. “We can’t go home yet. The mission is too important.”

“You all do need to go back home…because the king, your dad, really misses you,” said Soren.

The effect of his word could be seen on the travelers' faces. Claudia and Rayla threw the young knight murderous glares for using such an awful tactic. Ezran beamed when he heard about his father. Callum felt a stab in the heart at the mention of his adoptive father. He quickly put a small smile on his face to make sure Ezran wouldn’t get suspicious. He had been so focused on his desire to learn magic that he had forgotten about Harrow’s death. And he still needs to tell Ezran about it.

* * *

Once the siblings were alone, Claudia rounded up on her brother. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Soren, their dad is dead and you lied about it! They’re our friends and it’s wrong!”

“You were the one you said we should butter them up!”

“This is not what I meant!”

Soren scoffed. “I tried your way, using words. Maybe it’s time to use my way, punching stuff!”

“No! Give me one more day to convince Callum to come with us,” pleaded Claudia.

“Fine, but how are you going to convince him?”

Claudia smirked. “Using something more powerful than muscle: trust.”

* * *

“We can’t trust them,” said Rayla.

“Look, I get it,” said Callum diplomatically. “You don’t like Claudia. She tried to kill you multiple times. But remember, until today, she thought you were trying to hurt me and Ezran.”

“Ugh, that’s not it, Callum. I know they’re lying.”

Callum frowned slightly. “Because Soren said…”

“Knock-knock,” said a third voice. Callum and Rayla looked at the entrance where Claudia stood, smiling at the prince.

Whatever thought the young boy had, it evaporated at the sight of his crush. A content smile appeared on his face and all of his problems disappeared. Rayla fought the urge to slap that smile off his face.

“So, are you two like…Did I interrupt something?” asked Claudia casually as they walked around. She was afraid that she had been replaced in Callum’s heart, not because she needed his affection to bring him home, but because she liked being the object of the prince’s affection. She liked Callum, a lot, but she wasn’t sure she liked him the way he liked her. There will be time to pounder that when they return home. While the thought of using the boy’s affection to get her way, made her feel…not good, she had a mission to do, and the mission came first…right?

"Ah, no. We're just good friends," he replied and for some reason, she felt more at ease. A moment of silence passed between them. "So, you wanted to talk?"

“Yes. I needed to tell you about some things that had happened back home,” she said. The dark mage apprentice wasn’t what she was going to say, but she wasn’t about to lie to him about his dad. _I know what I’m doing isn’t quite right, but I’m doing this for his own good. Xadia is dangerous_. “Some things good, some things...bad…”

“I broke your Primal Stone,” he said suddenly.

“What?”

“Sorry, I had to get that off my chest,” he said sheepishly.

“But how did you-“

“I smashed it.”

"Well, accidents happen," she said with a shrug. It was a shame that the stone was no more, considering how valuable and powerful it was, but she wasn't one to care that much about this kind of stuff.

“On purpose,” Callum said, holding his breath.

That surprised her, still, she was not mad. "Well, I suppose you had a good reason.”

“Yes! I had a good reason! Thank you for understanding Claudia,” the prince said, finally able to relax. He moved to hug her, but when he saw that she wasn’t going for a hug, he quickly recovered. “Uh, I know that this doesn’t exactly make up for it, but I thought maybe you would let me show around all the magic Moon places and stuff?”

“I would let you,” she said and smiled when his face lit up.

* * *

Soren looked at the group of children playing with their pets, more specifically at the little prince. His father’s orders rang in his head, making his stomach twist into knots. _Come on, Soren! He’s just a kid! You can’t hurt a kid! On the other hand, if he did something stupid and dangerous it’s on him_. And so he came up with a fun little game for them to play. He tried to loosen the peg, but Rayla stopped him and part of him was grateful for it. It still didn’t feel right to him. He did put the idea into the boy’s head after all.

* * *

Callum had shown Claudia the elf structures and she had to admit, she was very impressed. She had met the moon mage who guards this place and on normal occasions, she would love to chat with her, but she had a job to do, so she scared her off by being her eccentric self. They entered a room filled with large stone tablets that had runes inscribed on them. The moon moths that flew around made this room even more beautiful.

“This place is amazing!” she exclaimed with glee.

“Yeah, I wonder what all these runes do.”

“They’re probably incredible spells.”

“It’s too bad humans can’t do magic without a Primal Stone,” he said with a sad voice.

“What? Yeah, we can.”

“No, I meant Primal Magic. Not, you know, your kind of magic.”

"Oh? My kind of magic?" she asked, a bit of annoyance coloring her tone. Her hands were on her hips and her right eyebrow was raised. Soren was well accustomed with this look and he would always reconsider his next words before speaking.

Callum, however, was not as versed as Soren in this regard. “Dark Magic,” he whispered, afraid to ignite the wrath of Lujanne or Rayla.

“Do you always whispered when you’re being judgmental?” she whispered back.

“Sorry,” he said once he realized his mistake. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just…I loved learning magic, and now I’m sad that I can’t.”

“You can. If you want to,” she said and pulled out her book of spells.

“I want to learn Primal Magic, but you need to be born with that connection inside you.”

Claudia chuckled. “That’s the great thing about Dark Magic. You just take creatures that are born with the magic inside and squeeze it out of them,” she explained, horrifying the young prince. “What…You’re doing it again, Prince Judgey-face! Look, here is how I think about it. Humans weren’t born with magic. We were born with nothing. But we still found a way to do amazing things. That’s what Dark Magic is really all about.”

“I…I don’t know. It feels kinda of wrong to hurt innocent creatures.”

The dark apprentice smiled. _He has such a good, pure heart._ "It's no different than hunting for food. Those creatures, while cute and innocent, are not sentient beings."

“I’m sorry. It’s just isn’t for me.”

“Just think about it,” she encouraged. She always wanted to be a teacher and she knew Callum had the aptitude for it. Plus, it’s another reason for Callum to return home.

The left the room and continued their walk. They approached the ruins that Lujanne had shown him yesterday.

“There’s not much to see here, but I thought I’d show you-“

“Ruins! I love ancient ruins!” Claudia exclaimed.

“Really? Me too!”

Claudia walked to the middle of them and spun around, excitedly. “If you close your eyes, you can imagine what it was like. Everything so magical back then. It’s beautiful.”

While Callum liked the ruins he had found someone more beautiful. At that moment, to him, Claudia was more beautiful than the Moonhenge. “Yeah, beautiful,” he said to himself with a content smile on his face. He could watch her for hours.

Opening her eyes, she saw that Callum’s eyes are open. “Hey, your eyes aren’t closed.”

Callum said nothing and continued to smile at her. A smile appeared on Claudia’s face as well as a warm feeling in her chest. She was flattered that Callum considered her beautiful, as not a lot of people had thought of her as such. _And since we’re on the topic, Callum is quite handsome himself. He’s going to make someone out there a very happy princess_. For some reason, the last thought bothered her, but she ignored it for now. She made a face to kill the romantic mood, however, that didn't change the good mood they had going. While she enjoyed it, it was a bit too sappy for her and she wasn’t one for serious moments anyway.

"If you think this is beautiful, you should see the Nexus," he said as he leads her there before suddenly stopped. "Actually, hold on. We should come back tonight after the moon rises."

Callum obviously didn’t understand the ramifications of his proposal, but she did. “Great,” she said shyly. “It’s a date.”

Only after she left did he understood. And when he was certain he was alone he jumped and exclaimed happily “It’s a date!”

* * *

“We can trust Soren and Claudia,” Rayla said as he entered the princes’ room.

Callum sighed, a bit annoyed. “I thought we talked about this.”

“But I have proof now. Soren built a zippy-line thingy for Ezran, but it was a trap. He wanted to be an accident.”

If it had been anyone else, they would have exploded at Rayla for insinuating that their best friend wanted to kill their brother, but fortunately for the elf, Callum was a very patient young man. "How do you know that?"

“The peg was kind of loose.”

“Kind of?”

“It was definitely loose. Which is why Soren tightened it before he went down.”

“So, it was loose, but then he tightened it?” he summarized.

“Callum, I know I’m not explaining it well, but you just have to look me in the eyes and trust me.”

Callum stood up and did just that. “I can see you believe it,” he began and Rayla’s heart soar of happiness. “But I’ve known Soren and Claudia for years. There’s no way Soren would be capable of doing something like that.”

“Didn’t you say that they are Viren’s children? The children of the same guy who you said let your father die?”

Callum’s entire being froze. “No, they wouldn’t listen to their father if he knew what he had done. They couldn’t,” he said firmly, but the damage was done, doubt crept into his mind. He remembered that fateful night, when he confronted Viren and Soren was there, just watching. As the memory replayed in his mind, he focused on Soren. The young knight looked shocked and conflicted. He also remembered how Soren saved him from death by taking the arrow that was meant for him. An image of Claudia smiling warmly at him appeared in his mind too. Callum took a deep breath then exhaled. Whatever doubt he felt earlier was now gone. “You’re right, they are Viren’s children, but they are nothing like him. Soren was horrified when his father took my voice and he took an arrow for me from the assassins. And I’m sure that if Claudia knew what happened would be angry at her father. They would never harm me and Ezran! Viren must have lied to them, he’s using them for his own selfish needs,” he said calmly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a date to go to.”

Rayla watched him go and raised her hand to reach out to him, to stop him from leaving. But before she could say anything, he already opened the door and walked out, leaving her alone in the room. A dull pain blossomed in her chest like a weed was squeezing her heart and her eyes began to sting. Her hand found her way back to her chest where she clenched the fabric of her suit, hoping to ease the pain. At that moment she realized she had a new fear that she didn’t even think was possible. Despite knowing each other for a couple of weeks, Rayla had come to rely on Callum and enjoyed his company. The idea that he might leave scared as much, or perhaps even more, than being thrown into the water.

* * *

Claudia was getting ready for her date with Callum. She was quite excited as this was her first date and she couldn't imagine anyone else she would rather go with. Soren voiced his concerns that they still had a mission to accomplish, but she assured him that everything went as planned. After all, Callum was eating from the palm of her hand. Convincing him to come with her back home would be easy. The ill-feeling she felt earlier returned, only much worse. Could she do it? Use Callum's feeling towards her into manipulating him? She had convinced herself that it was for the prince’s own good, but no matter how much she tells herself or how many arguments she came up with, the feeling wouldn’t go away. Claudia knew this feeling. She had it before, whenever she was about to do something bad. Whenever she had this feeling, she would just leave. And when she would leave, the feeling would disappear as well. But now, her father's orders are the cause of this ill-feeling. Which prompted the question: _Did father asked me to do something wrong? Or I am doing something wrong?_ She looked out her window and saw that the sun had set. She pushed those thoughts away for now, as it was time for her date with Callum.

Callum arrived at the Moonhenge and saw that Claudia arrived first. While she had her back to him, she could see that she had done with her hair. He quickly ran rearranged his hair one more time, to look neatly before approaching.

Hearing his steps, Claudia smiled and turned with a warm smile. “Hi.”

The familiar warm feeling he had felt since she arrived returned, only this time it was much stronger. _God, she is beautiful_. With a smile, he approached her. "The moon is so bright tonight. You can see our shadows," he commented. Claudia nodded and return to looking at the beautiful scenery. Wanting to hold her hand, but not having the courage to do so, Callum opted to hold her hand shadow instead.

Claudia noticed this and smiled. Callum saw her looking at him and quickly stopped what he was doing. “Hey, did you just have your hand shadow hold my hand shadow?”

“Did it?” he asked innocently.

Claudia giggle and took both his hands. "Come on! Take me to see the Nexus."

As the teens walked to the Nexus, both of them thought how great and how right it felt to hold hands, to be so close together. But while Callum was floating on a snow-white cloud, Claudia's cloud turned black, resembling a storm cloud as the ill-feeling returned to remind her that she was manipulating him. She quickly crushed the feeling, not wanting to spoil the mood. When they arrived, Claudia gasped at how beautifully the moon is reflected in the water, like it was so close to touching. "Wow," she breathed. "It's like the moon, but more here."

"Claudia, I've known you my whole life," Callum began, nervously.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Well, sure. You’ve known yourself your whole life,” he said and when he realized what he said he face-palmed himself.

Claudia giggled. "Callum, you make me laugh."

"You make me laugh too, you make me think, you make me see the world in a different way," he said. It wasn't really a confession, but it was the best he could do at the moment. God knows he is a nervous rack.

Claudia saw him opening and closing his mouth several times, trying had to say something. "It's okay," she said softly. "We can just be here…without words," she said and her eyes twinkled.

That gave Callum confidence. He gently grabbed both of her hands and leaned in slowly. As Claudia leaned in, she came to realized that her feelings for Callum were more platonic. How the news of his death shattered her world and then her world rebuilt itself once she heard he was alive. How right it feels when he holds her hand and how warm his hand is. She thought about how lucky she was that Callum loved her. He was so nice and kind and warm. He was everything a girl looked for at a guy and he chooses her. Then she remembered once more, that while he showers her in love and affection, she only gives him lies and deception. Claudia’s heart grew heavy. _Is this the reward a person like Callum should receive? Doesn’t he deserve much more?_ She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kiss him knowing she was lying to him. And so, she told him the truth about his dad.

Callum stepped away from her and looked at the lake, hunching over the edge. “I see,” he said with a whispered.

Claudia frowned. This was not the reaction she had expected. While there was sadness in his tone, there was also something else. Realizing what it was, she gasped slightly. “You knew.”

The prince nodded. “Rayla told me.”

"She told you? How did she know? Was she the one who-"

Callum shook his head. “No. She bond herself in an elven ritual and had this bracelet thingy that won’t come off until Dad died.”

“Ah, I see.”

A moment of silence lingered between them, in which Claudia tried to understand what the prince was thinking. Eventually, Callum straightens himself and looked at her with a sad smile. "I had fun tonight, but I have to go now. Thank you for telling me the truth,” he said and turned to leave.

“Callum,” she called out to him, to stop him from leaving.

He turned to look at her with that sad smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said reassuringly, leaving Claudia alone.

The dark mage apprentice return to the room she shared with her brother. On the way she had started crying, feeling heartbroken that the boy she loved was suffering, but also because she was ashamed of what she had tried to do. When Soren saw her crying, he assumed that Callum had hurt her, but she quickly assured him that Callum would never hurt her. The one who was doing the hurting it was her. The thought made her cry harder. Soren said nothing as he comforted her until she fell asleep.

* * *

After the talk with Callum, Rayla decided to do something productively to get her mind of the prince. So, she had gone to Lujanne and asked if anyone besides Soren and Claudia came here recently, but the moon mage told her that no one showed up recently except the siblings. That worried the former assassin. _If that man can sneak up on me and Lujanne so easily, then he could easily wipe us out and take the wee dragon. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem interested in that. But what did he mean with ‘the natural path of a human who desires to learn magic’? Could it mean-_

Her thoughts were cut off as she heard footsteps. Looking up she saw Callum approaching, however, she saw something was wrong as the prince kept his gaze on the ground and, while she wasn't sure since he kept his head low, she saw that his cheeks were wet, a sign that he was crying.

“Callum,” she called to him.

He didn’t look at her. “We’ll talk tomorrow, Rayla,” he said with a sad, defeated tone as he walked past her.

Rayla’s heart shattered at the sight of the sad miserable prince. Where was the strong, confident teen that helped her face her fear and saved her life? She looked at his back as he walked away from her and clenched her fists. Last time she had let him walk away, he had ended up like this. This time, she wouldn’t let that happen. She ran up to him and hugged him tightly from behind.

“Rayla?”

“It’s okay. I’m here. You can let it out,” she said into his back.

Callum grabbed her hand and squeezed her gently. “Thank you,” he said before sobs started to rack his body.

* * *

The next day, Callum tried to tell his brother that their dad is dead, but he couldn’t find the strength to do it. When Ezran brought up how Harrow would scold him, Callum’s resolved crumbled as he started crying and hug his little brother tightly. He managed to put his brother at ease by telling him he just missed their dad very much, which was true.

“I couldn’t do it Rayla,” he told his companion. “How can you tell someone something like that?”

Rayla sighed deeply. “I wish I could help you, Callum.”

The young prince shook his head. “No, it’s better if I tell him. I’m his brother after all.”

Rayla nodded in understanding.

“Callum,” called a voice that she started to despise. “Can I talk to you in private?” asked Claudia.

The aspiring mage nodded and followed her to her room.

“Here,” she said and handed him a letter. “I found this in my father’s study that night.”

Callum gasped. “This is my dad’s letter. Did you opened it?”

“No, I could never!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to accuse you,” he said as silence settled between them again, only this time it was uncomfortable.

“So, I guess this is goodbye,” said the dark mage apprentice sadly.

“Guess so.”

The two teens hugged each tightly. "I wish this wouldn't be the end," she whispered. While she couldn't manipulate Callum to return, she still has a mission. To bring him and his brother back along with the little dragon.

Callum pulled apart to look at her, not breaking the hug. "Hey, it doesn't have to end. I'll return and we can continue, right? You can come with us if you want that is."

Claudia blinked. Without realizing, Callum had offered her a new path. A path that she liked much more than the one she was on now. “I would love that,” she said with a smile.

“Uh, which one? Continue home, or come with me?” he asked, with an unsure smile.

Claudia giggled. “To come with you silly.”

The prince’s heart sore as a bright smile appeared on his face. “I would love that too.”

* * *

Rayla waited was waiting for him to return. “Let me guess, she convinced you to return with them?” she asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Actually, no. Claudia understands how important our mission is.”

“Really?” she asked, very surprised. _I haven’t expected that. What type of game is she playing at?_

“Yes, in fact so much that she wants to come with us.”

_Ah, there it is._ “Callum, we can trust them. They lied to you.”

"Soren lied to me. Claudia told me the truth."

“And what does that tell?” she asked frustrated.

“That Soren is a tick-headed idiot who puts his mission first and the feelings of other last,” he responded, his own annoyance rising.

“We can’t trust them!”

“Yes, we can!”

“No, we can’t and I can prove it!”

“Then do it already!”

* * *

_Fate/Hollow Ataraxia – Avenger_

Claudia entered her temporary room and saw her brother packing. He looked up and saw her. “So, are you ready to do things my way now?”

“Actually, there was a change of plans.”

“What? What do you mean?” he asked confused.

"We're not going to force them to return with us. Instead, we're going with them, to keep them safe,” she informed him calmly.

“What?” exclaimed the young knight, not quite sure he heard his sister right.

“Father never said when we should return with the princes, so we would return once the princes’ mission has ended.” _He also said to bring back the egg. Well, the egg is no more now, only a dragon remains_

“You can’t be serious!”

“I am serious,” responded the dark mage apprentice with an eerie calm that her brother had never heard before. She walked up to him until she could look him in the eyes, into his very soul. “And if you do something, anything that gets in a way of that I’ll show why the magic I do is called Dark Magic. You fear magic and rightly so," she said and as she talked, Soren saw how her eyes grew a little dark and a very faint dark aura formed as the room got colder. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes,” stammered Soren.

Claudia smiled and everything returned to normal. “Good,” she said in her normal voice. “Now hurry up with the packing, we need to cover as much distance as we can before the sun goes down.”

* * *

The group of the adventures, now with the addition of Soren and Claudia made their way down the mountain. Soren hated that he got roped into accompanying the brats to the most dangerous place in the world, but was able to see the good side of things. Xadia is a dangerous land to humans and they would face dangers at every turn. All he had to do was wait until something, or someone, eventually will kill the princes and the elven friend and he and his sister could return home. The only problem would be returning, but he was nothing if not resourceful.

Rayla gritted her teeth in frustration as they went down the mountain. She had expected the siblings to take the bait when she separated herself from the group, but nothing happened. She had repeated this action several times, coming up with different excuses, but still nothing. In the end, she was forced to give up. As if to read her mind, Phoe-Phoe appeared and blinded everyone so that the real princes would join them.

“What was that?” asked Claudia when her vision cleared.

“Oh, that was just Phoe-Phoe saying goodbye,” said Callum with a smug smirk on his face, clearly directed at Rayla.

The elf didn’t look at him. “We should camp soon,” she said and kept moving.

* * *

_Aimer- Sleepless Nights_

Later the group said goodbye to Ellis and Ava as they returned to their home. The group camped a close distance to the town since they could stay at the inn thanks to Rayla being discovered. They settled on two groups of people to keep watch, one group would take the first watch until they couldn’t stay awake, then the other one would take over. They excluded Ezran since he didn’t have the necessary endurance, despite the little prince’s protests. Callum and Claudia took the first watch this time. The two sat in an uncomfortable silence as they kept alert for any noises, neither unsure how to proceed.

Eventually, it was Claudia who broke the silence. “The stars are out.”

“Yeah. It’s not as beautiful as the Moon Nexus, but it’s still gorgeous.”

Claudia pulled her knees closer to her chest. “Callum, I’m sorry I ruined the mood back then,” she said regretfully.

"What? Claudia, you didn't ruin anything. In fact, I'm happy that you told me," he said reassuringly, but Claudia wasn't convinced. He scooped closer to her and took her hands into his. Now, she was only looking at him. “Claudia, I don’t care where we are as long as we are together. And my feelings for you haven’t changed.”

Claudia smiled in relief and happiness. “My feelings haven’t changed too.”

Callum smiled and the two teens leaned in until their lips touched gently. While the two lovers were on their little world they were unaware of a certain pair of amethyst eyes that watched them, unaware of a certain elf's heart-shattering.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I just wanted to say that the 3rd season was amazing. Definitely the best season so far. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I have. It was so good, that it gave me new ideas for my stories. Now, I'm going to ramble for a bit about the new season. If you guys haven't watched it or not interested in hearing fan-girl here, just skip this. WARNING: SPOILERS.  
Ho boy, where do I begin? For the first 3 episodes, I was terrified for Amaya, I thought she was going to die. So happy she lived and got herself a friend as badass as her.   
I would like to apologize to Opheli. I thought she was a traitor when she proposed Ezran appoint a Regent, but it turns out there was indeed a snake in Ezran's court. Speaking of Ezran, he has the makings of a great king and I admire his compassion and kindness.  
And now the best character development award for this season goes to: Soren. The dude went from a smug idiot who obeyed his father without much question to a noble crown guard who knows what is right and what is wrong and he's willing to make hard choices.  
RAYLLUM IS OFFICIALLY CANON!!! You have no idea how ecstatic I was when they first kissed. I honestly had little hope that we would see them together this season, let alone have so many beautiful moments. At best I figured, I figured they would confess their feelings for each other at the end of the season. The fact that this wasn't planned just shows how great their relationship is, and how natural it is since they went from best friends to lovers. In my personal opinion, that's the best kind of romance.  
What I enjoyed about this season (and on the show in general) is that while it's for kids, they don't dumb it down. Like there are moments where people are killed, especially in the final battle where you can see soldiers clearly get cut down while keeping gore to none.   
Also, have you guys spotted the Avatar references? ;)  
Alright I'm done. I might bring up some other facts that happened this season as the story progresses, but I still intend to make it different from canon. I actually have two different endings in mind. But we'll get to that later. For now on to the story.  
PS: Things are about to get a bit more serious from this point on. I won't be very dark, but it won't have the same lightheartedness the show has

The next morning the group woke up and after a quick breakfast, they were ready to keep moving.

"What's the hold-up?" asked an annoyed Soren.

“Callum said he’s changing,” responded Claudia patiently.

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll see in a moment,” said Rayla.

True enough, a moment later Callum emerged in his armor, making the siblings gasp and stare at the young prince.

Soren looked at the armor with a critical eye. To him it looked like a medium armor, offering decent protection. The coat of arms belongs to Katolis, but the colors were outdated. “Where did you get this armor? Can you even walk with it?”

"It belongs to my biological father. It's quite light, even if it's a bit too big," responded the prince.

Claudia, on the other hand, didn't care that much about where he got the armor, however, she could appreciate how good he looks in it. The armor made him look like one of the knights in fairy tales where they fight the evil elves and dragons and rescue the princess. While she wasn’t the princess stereotype, she found appeal in the image of a powerful knight, and right now Callum looked the part quite well. “That armor suits you,” she purred and Callum’s face resembled a tomato as he stammered a thank you.

“If you’re quite done with being gross, we need to keep moving,” said Rayla with a bit of bite in her voice.

Callum’s face turned serious as he lowered his visor. “You’re right. Let’s move on.”

* * *

The group had been traveling for an hour and Callum tried to will the headache that he had away. Looking at his girlfriend and brother the two seemed to have the same problem as him. Even the animals were unsettled. The reason for the headache was the constant arguing of Soren and Rayla who couldn't seem to come to terms with who should lead them.

“Why the hell should you lead?!” asked the young knight angrily.

“Because we are going to Xadia, _my homeland_! Why the hell should _you_ lead?!” responded the former assassin in kind.

“Because I am the oldest and most experienced fighter in our group!”

“Oh, yeah?! But I’m the strongest!”

“Enough!” said Callum, his voice authoritative befitting of a prince. “Look, I get you don’t like or trust each other and I don’t expect you to after you just met and fought. But you’re going to have to put your differences aside and work together. Our journey has just begun and we’ll face a lot of dangers on the way. If we don’t work together to overcome them, we’ll die. Am I clear?”

Soren and Rayla relented, swayed by the logic of Callum’s words. Claudia looked at her boyfriend in awe for the second time today. She had never seen him so powerful, confidant and authoritative before. She found herself liking it very much.

“Good,” said the armored prince before turning to Rayla. “Rayla you lead us since you know the terrain of your land and you're our go-to expert in terms of surviving in the wild."

Rayla beamed at Callum, before smirking smugly at a sulking Soren and moved in front of the group to take the lead. Claudia went beside Callum and grabbed his hand. And while she couldn't see his face she was quite sure he was smiling and happy too. Rayla saw that and let out a disgusted groan while ignoring the painful twist in her heart.

“At least we have something in common,” said Soren from her right.

Rayla had to smirk. “Who would have thought?” before an awkward silence settled between them. Rayla was hesitant to ask the young knight, but she needed to know. “Soren?”

“Hm?”

“That night when the assassins attacked, what...what happened to them?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

"Most of them died. The only one to survive was their leader," responded Soren reluctantly.

Hoped blossomed in Rayla’s chest. “Runaan,” she whispered softly.

“Don’t worry Rayla,” said Ezran, having heard her. “I’m sure I can convince Dad to forgive him and let him go when we return and show him how elves are actually nice,” said the naïve young boy, holding to the little dragon.

Immediately after he said that Rayla felt her heart clenched tight, feeling guilty for the death of his father. Sure enough, Claudia and Soren glared at her hard, as if to say: _You’re guilty. You’re the reason this boy is now an orphan._ Rayla looked at Callum, her only safe haven in this storm. His stance was relaxed, meaning he wasn't against her, unlike the siblings, but the fact that he hadn't lifted his visor to look at her meant only one thing: he will not support her in realizing Runaan. She didn’t blame him, not one bit. After all, his dad is dead and he no doubt seeks justice for him. As much as it pains her, Runaan brought this on himself. She had tried to tell him that there is another way, but he didn't listen and now he must suffer the consequences. But, despite how much she tells herself that there was nothing more she could do to stop him, the sadness and pain she felt would not go away. So, with a forced smile, she said to Ezran. “We’ll see, Ezran.”

* * *

The boy smiled, completely oblivious to her pain and the group kept walking. They walked for another couple of hours, before eventually stopping for lunch.

“Guys, I think we should talk about our strategy,” said Callum as they ate.

“Strategy?” asked his girlfriend.

"Yes, in that case, we are attacked on the road."

"In that case, I have a plan," said Soren as he took a bit out his rations. "You hang back and cheer for me as I kick the ass of whoever or whatever comes our way," he bosted with a wide grin.

“I think you meant to say _you_ and the others stay back, while _I_ deal with whoever or whatever comes our way,” challenged Rayla with a smirk.

Soren was about to respond when Callum interrupted. “Stop it. Look, you’re both strong and you are the backbone of our group, but remember that you aren’t invincible. Rayla, from what I heard and seen, Soren bested you.”

Rayla gasped indignantly. "Claudia helped him! If she hadn't cast that spell, I would have wiped the floor with him!"

“Exactly, Claudia helped. What makes you think that bandits or other enemies won't attack us in a group? No matter how strong you are you can't fend off scores of enemies on your own. The same goes for you Soren, I've heard that without Claudia you would have lost."

“I-I had something in my eye!” yelled the embarrassed young knight.

“That was the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard,” said his sister.

“Well, regardless, the outcome remained the same. Without Claudia, you would have lost.”

“Okay, oh wise leader. What do suggest?” asked Soren sarcastically.

“It’s a simple tactic. Soren and Rayla, you are our main offensive. You will work together to take down the enemies. Claudia, you are our magic support. However be sure of your targets, we don't want any friendly fire. I will be the defense, I will guard Claudia, Ezran and the animals. Which brings me to the last role. Ezran, you have to keep Zym and Bait with you at all times during the fights. We can’t worry about them or trip over them in the middle of battle. Is everything clear?” he asked and everyone nodded while being impressed.

Soren and Rayla thought that it was not a bad tactic, especially Soren who didn’t think the prince could be this capable in strategy. Ezran and Claudia were very impressed since they never saw Callum so assertive before. Claudia couldn't help but admire how much the prince had grown. He is no longer the shy, clumsy prince, but he was turning into a young man, which she liked immensely. _Had it only been two weeks since he left? Incredible._

* * *

_Fate/Stay night- Clashing_ _Souls_

After finishing their lunch, the group kept on walking for another two hours when Rayla stopped them with a sigh.

“What now?” asked Soren, annoyed.

“I heard something,” said Rayla as she scanned her surroundings.

This time everyone heard the low growl that came from the trees as they got tense. The growl grew louder as heavy footsteps could be heard coming from within the forest. From the trees a large, ugly beast appeared, holding a large cub in his right hand. Its skin was green and his legs looked like tree trunks. On its back, a small tree could have been growing. The best before them was a forest troll.

“Uhm, Ezran? You talk to animals, right? Can’t you talk to it too and tell it to leave us alone?” asked a terrified Callum.

“All I understand is that it’s hungry and we are its meal,” responded his brother, equally terrified.

The troll swung his cub at the closest people: Rayla and Soren who dodged the attack by rolling in different directions. Rayla charged at the beast, slashing its left leg, however, her blades didn’t do any real damage. The beast roared and swung the cub at the elf, who dodged again. It quickly picked up a nearby rock and threw it at her head. She managed it to avoid it, by turning her head just in time and the rock passed her, punching through a tree. Seeing the beast focus on Rayla, Soren jumped on its back and stabbed it with his sword, however, the small tree shielded the troll from the damage. Unfortunately, Soren was too slow to avoid being grabbed by it. Just as he was about to be crushed, a small fireball from Claudia hit the troll in its face, making it drop Soren. The angry troll charged at Claudia with a speed that surprised the dark mage apprentice enough that she didn't have enough time to cast another spell. Fortunately for her, Callum jumped in front of her and raised his shield t block the attack. The blow rattled all bones in his body and dug his heels deeper in the dirt, but he still held against the monster. With a determined roared he pushed the cub back and slashed the hand that held it. While the cut was not deep enough to cut the hand off, it was enough to make the troll drop its weapon with a pained cry. Before the troll could retaliate, Soren came from behind and slashed at the leg Rayla had attacked, cutting right through it, forcing the troll on his knee. He quickly spun around and tried to stab the troll in the head, but it grabbed his sword and growled angrily. Rayla then quickly climbed onto its back and crossed her blades at the beast’s throat, spraying Callum, Claudia and Soren with its green blood. The troll let go of Soren’s blade and covered its neck to prevent blood from gushing out. With a mighty roar, Soren swung with all his might and cut the troll’s hands in half and nearly separated its head from its shoulders. The troll turned into a green fountain, spraying everyone near it with its blood. At the sight of this, Ezran vomited as the pets looked at the boy in worry. Even Callum and Rayla weren’t doing so good as they tried to keep the contents of their stomach inside. The only ones who didn’t have a problem were Claudia and Soren as they have seen such a sight before. Rayla managing this better since this isn’t the first time she killed a creature. _Is this how it feels to be a killer?_ She couldn’t help but wonder. For Callum, it was worse as it reminded him of the corpses he had seen at the castle that night he fled, only this time it was much more visceral. As he panted a gentle hand rested on his back, rubbing it slowly. “Breath,” said Claudia softly as she tried to calm down her boyfriend. “Breath Callum. You were amazing back there.”

“I’m okay, thanks,” he said as he calmed down.

“Guys…I don’t feel so good,” said Ezran before collapsing in Callum’s arms.

“Ezran!” yelled the older brother, terrified.

“He’ll be fine. He’s just exhausted,” said Claudia reassuringly.

“We need to leave. The smell of blood might attract other animals,” said Rayla.

“Leave? But I wanted to collect some samples from the troll,” said Claudia.

“Claudia, Rayla is right. And Ezran isn’t feeling so good right now. We need to go,” said Callum, holding a barely conscious Ezran.

“You’re right, we should go. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”

* * *

_Dazbee-Up all night_

After they put a fair amount of distance between themselves and the troll corpse, the group assembled the camp. Sometime after finding the spot to camp, Ezran fell asleep. Callum, now armor free, tucked his little brother in, making sure he was close to the fire to keep warm, but not so close as to turn in his sleep and catch on fire.

“How is he?” Claudia and Rayla asked at the same time. Both girls exchanged a quick glare that went unnoticed by Callum.

“He’s alright, just tired. But I think that he won’t be dreaming about taffy hippos for a while,” he responded as he stood up. “You were all amazing back then. Good job everyone!”

"Come now, give yourself some credit," said his girlfriend as she moved close to him. "You were pretty impressive yourself. The way you took that troll's attack head-on. Have you been working out?" she asked as she put her hands on Callum's biceps.

Callum blushed madly and laughed nervously as he tried to form a coherent response. Rayla just rolled her eyes in disgust.

“Speaking of working out,” said Soren. “Since we camped earlier than usual, I say we got time for some sparring, right Callum?”

The prince suppressed a groan. What Soren meant by sparring is that he will use Callum as a dummy for his sword techniques. And something told him that Soren would not go easy on him today. Soren found two sticks that were quite sturdy and just the right size. The two boys slipped into a battle stance. Soren made the first move and attacked Callum relentlessly. The younger boy tried his best to keep up with the onslaught, but he was eventually overwhelmed and got stabbed in the gut. They went on like this for a couple more rounds.

“Okay, so is there any point to this little spar of yours?” asked Rayla after the fourth match, angrily. “You’re not teaching him anything, you’re just using him as a punching bag.”

Soren scoffed offended. “I’m teaching him how to be tough.”

“If by ‘tough’ you mean how to take a beating, then he learned that, trust me. You haven’t corrected his stance, or given him any tips,” she said and walked up to Soren and grabbed the stick. Then she turned to Callum. “First off, you’re too rigid, loosen up a bit. If you don’t, you won’t be able to react in time to dodge. Move your legs apart a little more. While it’s good that you hold your sword in front of you to protect your vital points, you hold it too far from your body. Keep it a little closer. Very good, now let’s begin.”

Rayla attacked Callum, but unlike Soren, her attacks weren’t extremely fast. They were at a speed Callum could see them and react to them accordingly. And so he did. He blocked every swing Rayla threw at him.

“Very good,” commented Rayla with a smile. “However, if you don’t plan on disarming your opponent by parrying, you can’t stay on the defensive forever.”

“Okay, but how do I parry?”

“It’s simple. Basically, you anticipate where your opponent is going to strike and bat it away with sufficient force so that he’ll lose the grip on the weapon. Now, let’s give it a try.”

Rayla attacked Callum again and after blocking a few hits the prince was able to deduce the pattern of her attacks. He speculated when her next attack will be and once he parried her attack, causing her to lose the grip on her stick, making it fly and hit Soren in the face. Callum, Claudia and Rayla laughed at the knight’s misfortune, while Soren glared daggers at Rayla.

“You did that on purpose!” yelled Soren, his face red with anger.

“No, no,” she said as she chuckled. “I don’t think I could pull that off again.”

“Sorry Soren,” said Callum sheepishly.

“You’re too easy on him,” said the young knight.

“If I go all out on him he won’t have a chance. How is he supposed to learn that way? You mean to tell me that your instructor didn't hold back at all when he spared with you?"

“No,” he said grumpily as he sat down on a nearby log.

Rayla wanted to ask why Soren didn't hold back against Callum in sparing. Was it because he didn't have the patience with the prince or just to inflate his ego by beating an inexperienced fighter. But she held her tongue as she didn't want any more discord in the group. "Right, now let's get back to it. Now, while parrying and staying on the defense is good and all is not the best tactic because you'll let your opponent come up with a strategy to beat you. It's always good to strike first, but don't always be on the offensive since it can leave you open for attacks. You need to find an equilibrium between offense and defense. You'll figure it out with experience. Now, we'll focus on offense. Come at me."

Callum did as she said and swung his stick at her, however, every strike was blocked or dodged. As he attacked her, he noticed that her right side was open and decided to capitalize on the opportunity. He made a feint for her head, and then he swung hard at her exposed side, only to find the stick blocking the attack. His shock lower his guard and Rayla disarmed him and pointed her stick at his throat.

“You were right to attack my exposed side, but you didn’t consider that I did that on purpose. This is another thing you’ll face when you fight someone. Fake openings that will lull the opponent into a false sense of confidence only to be tricked and defeated,” she explained

“Okay, but how do I know which are fake and which are genuine?”

"You don't. The only thing you can do is to be prepared to block or dodge if it turns out to be a trap. We'll also have to work on your reaction time, but for now, drop and give me twenty."

“Twenty what?” he asked, hoping that it wasn’t what he thought.

"Twenty push-ups. I'm actually quite soft on you. When I trained, we were supposed to do thirty. And a lot more of other exercises as a warm-up."

“But dinner is almost ready,” protested Claudia.

“Yeah, I can do them after dinner,” piped Callum.

Rayla shook her head. “No, no work out after you eat. It's a bad idea. Save us two bowls, Claudia. Now, come on! Drop down and give me twenty!”

Eventually, Callum finished all twenty push-ups and enjoyed the meal with his friends and girlfriend. Normally Soren and Rayla would take the first watch, but Callum volunteered to take the place of one of them. Soren immediately seized the opportunity. Claudia tried to convince him to go to sleep, but he declined saying he isn't sleepy just yet. Now only Callum and Rayla remained awake.

“Why did you want to be on the first watch since you’ve been first the last time as well?” she asked

“Honestly, I don’t like being woke up in my sleep. I rather have much less sleep,” he replied with a smirk. “Thank you for cooperating with Claudia and Soren. I know it mustn’t have been easy.”

“I don’t trust them yet, but they had been helping so far, so I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt.”

“Thank you. And thank for teaching me sword-fighting. I’ve learned more from our little sessions than I’ve learned from Soren in years. You’re an amazing teacher.”

Rayla looked the other way to hide her blush. “Y-you’re welcome. And you aren’t a bad student either. You just need proper guidance,” she said. “How are you feeling after it?”

“My arms are a bit sore, but it’s no big deal.”

Rayla nodded. “That’s to be expected. Soren didn’t let you warm up before, did he?”

“No, mostly just attacking me with a wooden sword.”

"I noticed that you preferred to use a shield. Why? It's more practical to use your sword to block and parry."

"Soren handed my ass to me more times than I could count. I thought that if I picked up a shield, like my aunt Amaya, I would be able to protect myself and beat Soren. That didn't happen. Soren still kicked my ass. The few times I was able to win was when he underestimated me or when he was distracted. Naturally, he didn't hold back the next rounds."

Rayla glared at the sleeping form of Soren, before turning her attention back to Callum. “If you’re feeling up to it, want to continue training. You have a lot of catching up to do since you didn’t receive proper training.”

Callum blinked in surprise. "I'm up for it, but shouldn't we keep watch?"

“Don’t worry, I have excellent hearing. I’ll know if something or someone approaches,” she replied with a smile.

Callum returned the smile. “In that case, let’s keep training.”

And so they did. Rayla instructed him in blocking, worked on his dodging, battle stance, how to read an opponent. By the time they were done, Callum was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as he hit the sleeping bag.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, the group emerged from the forest and stared at the open ocean.

“Xadia is that way,” said Rayla, pointing over the horizon. "Across miles and miles of the fluid, I both need to survive and hate more than anything in the world."

“Wait, you’re scared of water?” asked Soren as he was about to enter a laughing fit, only to be stopped when Claudia elbowed him in the gut.

Callum put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Ignore him. We’ll walk around it.”

Rayla smiled at the prince’s kindness. “That’s sweet, but walking around is gonna take too long. We need to get that former egg, now adorable baby dragon home to Xadia as soon as we can. We’ve got to go straight across.”

* * *

The group entered the port town, but since Rayla is an elf they were hidden from sight.

“So, we need a boat. And a captain who knows how to make it go,” said Ezran.

“Right. Specifically, a captain who doesn’t hate elves,” commented Callum.

Rayla scoffed. “That won’t be a problem. I can disguise myself as a human again,” she said and quickly grabbed the cloak, putting it on. “Hello again fellow humans, human fellows.”

Callum groaned while Ezran clapped happily. “You guys are going to love human Rayla!" said the little prince to Claudia, Soren, and Zym.

“Let’s go judge and criticize things other humans do, and then do the exact thing ourselves!” exclaimed Rayla as Claudia and Ezran laughed while Callum and Soren’s annoyance rose. “I am excited to rapidly eat a plate of unwholesome food, in an excessive portion size.”

Ezran laughed. “It’s true. I’d eat a jelly tart the size of a dog.”

“And Soren ate three whole cheese platos at last year’s festivities and couldn’t be away from the toilet the next day,” said Claudia as she wiped the tears made by laughter from her eyes. Soren’s face turned red from anger and embarrassment as he grit his teeth and tried to come up with a better come back. Callum’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

“Won’t it be great to encounter other humans, and talk about which roads and pathways will take us slightly faster than other roads and pathways?”

“It is so true. We do love to go slightly faster,” said the little prince.

“There’s nothing wrong with arriving slightly faster!” exclaimed a flustered Soren, drawing the attention of several people as they walked past by. Fortunately for the group, none of those people paid close attention to them.

“Especially now,” Callum said as he stood up. “Claudia, Soren and I will find a captain. Ezran, you stay here and help Rayla conjure up a fifth finger.”

“You got it, my smooth-skull friend,” Rayla said, making Claudia and Ezran giggle, while Callum and Soren rolled their eyes.

* * *

It was easier said than done. Most ships have already sailed, while the ones still present are quite expensive. They could get the money for a ship if Callum sold his mother's jewelry he has on him, but for him, that would be a last resort. Soren tried to pull Crow Guard on a few captains, but they didn’t care unless they had an official document from the king.

“This looks like the last one,” said Callum as he, Claudia and Soren approached a man with a parrot on his shoulder who was staring out at the sea. “Excuse me, are you the captain of this vessel?”

The man turned and the teenagers gasped when they saw that he was wearing eye patches on both eyes. “Greeting! The name’s Captain Villadis. The ‘D’ is silent.”

“There is a ‘D’?” asked Claudia.

“Arr!”

“Wait, there’s a silent ‘R’?” asked Soren, confused.

“Narr.”

“Oh, just the D is silent,” said Claudia.

“Aye!”

“Wait, what about-“

Callum fake coughed to stop the pointless conversation. “We just wanted to ask you if you could take us across the bay, but we didn’t know you were retired. We’ll just leave.”

“Oi, who said I was retired?!” asked the now annoyed captain.

“Uh, I just assumed because…” trailed off Callum

“Because you’re blind,” finished Soren and Callum mentally faced palmed.

_Count on Soren to be blunt._

Villadis exploded. “I can sail just fine! You three need to get across the bay, right? I can take you there with no problem, free of charge! If the wind is on our side we can make it across the bay in no time!”

Callum blinked. “That is very generous of you. Why would you do that for some strangers?”

“Hmph, I just want to prove that smart-ass that I don’t need me eyes to sail. The only things I need are the wind by me side and me trusty first mate, Berto!”

“I’m a parrot,” squeaked the bird.

"We're five people plus to pets. Are you okay with that?"

“Aye.”

"Alright then. We'll get our friends and return. I am Callum, by the way. With me are Soren and Claudia."

“Ahooy, travelers. As I said I'm Captain Villadis and this is Berto, me first mate!”

Once Ezran and Rayla joined, the group got on board the ship.

“Welcome to my watery home, _The Ruthless_, named after me dear wife Ruth, who sadly…” said the captain, taking a moment to sniff “Who sadly don’t enjoy sailing.”

“So, you said that if the wind is on our side we can make it across the bay quickly?” asked Callum for confirmation.

“Aye! ‘Course, there’s a storm coming.”

“A storm? That could be interesting,” mumbled the prince as his eyes lit up.

“So, we have to delay the departure for a few days,” said Villadis.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t do that. We need to leave now,” said Callum

“What? But Callum there is a storm coming!” exclaimed Claudia.

“I know, but we’re on a tight schedule. The sooner we deliver what we need to deliver, the better. We already wasted enough time as it is.”

_Besides, if there is even a small chance I can connect with the Sky Arcanum I have to take it, no matter what!_

“I agree with Callum, we have to depart immediately,” said Rayla and Callum smiled at her in appreciation.

“I concur,” said Soren.

_If we are caught in the middle of the storm there is a chance the princes might get caught. And it will a terrible accident._

* * *

The group got aboard the ship and so far sailing has been quite smooth.

“Ye might be wondering what happened to me eyes,” said Villadis to Callum who was observing the captain.

“Well, I didn’t want to be rude,” said the prince sheepishly.

“Me left eye was taken by a flock of mutinous seagulls.”

“Uh, wow. What about your right eye?”

“Don’t know. Came at me from the left.”

As the wind blew, Callum realized something. “Hey, wait. How are we’re going that way if the wind if is blowing us in the opposite direction?”

“Oh, that’s how you sail, me boy.”

“The wind doesn’t push where we want to go?”

“The sail is more like a wind flying through the wind, pulling the boat against the water current below us. It’s like shooting a willow melon seed from between your fingers. You squeeze in the both sides, but the seed shoots straight out.” explained the captain.

“I think I get.”

“After you’re in the elements long enough, you get a feel for where the wind is and how it’s about to change. It’s like a connection, deep in me bones.”

“Hold on, you feel a connection to the wind? How did you get that?” asked Callum, his hope renewed as he realized that what he wanted wasn’t so impossible after all.

“What, just because I’m blind and have narcolepsy you thought I wouldn’t have sailing sense?” asked the captain annoyed.

“No, no, no. That’s not what I meant, I…Wait, narcolepsy?”

As if on cue, Villadis fell asleep, but was quickly woke up by his first mate. Suddenly, it started to rain and the sky darkened with storm clouds. The party was below the deck, safe from the storm, except for Callum who was still outside.

“Why isn’t he coming down? It’s dangerous out there!” exclaimed Claudia, distraught.

“Callum wants to do Sky magic. He thinks that if he endures the storm, he will be a step closer to understand it,” said Ezran.

“Why would he do that? I told him that I can help him learn magic. Why is he so stubborn?!” said the dark mage apprentice angrily, but in truth she was scared. She was scared that in his foolish pursuit of magic, Callum will be hurt or worse.

Soren, on the other hand, was hoping that the prince might fall off the ship

“Your type of magic is an abomination,” said Rayla, her face a bit green.

Claudia huffed. “You’re just jealous that humans can do magic just as good as you elves, maybe even better.”

Rayla would have retorted if the urge to vomit didn’t return.

On the deck, Callum was holding on as tightly as he could as the wind tried to push him off the ship. He was wet and cold and his grip almost slipped a couple of times, but that didn't matter to him. Everything he learned so far: sword fighting, horse riding, and battle strategies were things that he didn't enjoy in the slightest. They were things others forced him to. And he had almost given up on those, but two things made him continue: his desire to impress Claudia and the desire to make his mother proud and even King Harrow proud. His mother was one of the best warriors and strategists the kingdom had. And she was as graceful on foot as she was on the back of the horse. To give up would be an insult to her memory. While he didn't give up, he still felt no joy in learning those things. Until he discovered magic. When he casted his first spell he never felt so excited before. It felt like he had found a part of him that was missing all those years and for once he felt whole. That was until he lost it. He didn't regret destroying the Primal Stone, after all Zym was born and Rayla’s hand was safe. But that didn’t mean he didn’t miss magic. He felt like that part of him that he had just discovered was gone. And this time it was worse because, unlike before, he could feel its absence. Claudia offered an alternative and while it fit with his desire, something inside him told him not to accept her offer. And so he continued to search for a way to do magic again. And enduring this storm was the first step.

_I _will _endure! No matter what, I _will_ do magic again!_

Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep sailing through the storm so they took shelter on a small island. Claudia, Ezran and Soren decided to take a nap. The only ones awake were Callum and Rayla. Callum sat on the deck, letting the rain soak him.

“Hey,” said Rayla gaining his attention.

“Hey,” Callum noted that she was looking better which was a relief.

“I know that face. It’s the dumb idea face,” she said with a smirk.

Callum smirked in return. “You know me so well,” his face got serious. “Every time the lightning strikes I can feel something.”

“Yeah, me too. It feels good not to be struck by lightning,” she said sarcastically.

“No, I mean it feels like it did when I used the _Fulminis_ spell. Maybe if I face the storm that’s how I’ll make the connection.”

“Or it’ll blow you up until you’re dead,” counted Rayla with sass as she tried to hide her fear.

They both turned and looked at how Zym was playing in the rain and how he was fascinated by lightning.

“See? Zym gets it. He can feel it, too,” said Callum.

It took some convincing, but Callum was able to persuade Rayla to let him and Zym go and face the storm. Callum sat and meditated in the rain, but he felt nothing. As such, he decided that it would be best to be in the heart of the storm, where the lighting was striking a rod on top of a windmill. He got up there and extended his hand to touch the rod when all of his instincts told him to not touch or he will die. He did his best to ignore them, but eventually, they prevailed and Callum pulled his hand back. Just as he was about to leave the lighting struck.

* * *

“You did WHAT?!” yelled an angry and scared Claudia. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

No one noticed Soren's smirk.

“I don’t know. I know it was stupid, but he convinced me to let him go,” defended Rayla. _Why the hell I’m always doing what he wants?_

Before Claudia could say anything, Callum approaches the ship and carrying Zym. The group initially panicked that the baby dragon was hurt, but they relaxed as soon as they found out he was only resting.

“I couldn’t do it,” said Callum with remorse to Rayla. “I was at the heart of the storm and when the moment came I backed away.”

_If I had been more courageous, I could have formed my connection to the Sky Arcanum, just like Zym_.

Rayla put her hand on his shoulder. “Good, I’m glad,” she said, relieved and Callum understood that she was only concerned for his safety.

Then Callum saw Claudia storming right at him, looking pissed. “Claudia, I-“

He was cut off when she hugged him tightly, his head buried in her chest. “I’m so happy you’re okay. You’re okay, right?” she asked after she let him go.

“Y-yeah,” he stammered as his face turned bright red.

Claudia nodded, looking pissed still. “We’ll speak about this later.”

The group went back on the ship, ignoring Soren’s annoyed expression. Later that night, Callum was on the deck gazing at the stars.

_Aimer-Sleepless Nights_

“Hey,” said Claudia, making her presence known.

“Hey,” Callum responded and he noted with relief that she was not angry anymore.

“I wanted to talk about what happened today. More specifically, what you did today.”

Callum sighed. “Look, I know I put myself and Zym and risk, but-“

“I don’t think you understand,” she cut him off, standing next to him. “Yes, you put yourself and the baby dragon at risk, but do you know what consequences your actions brought?” she asked and Callum shook his head. “You made us, _me_, scarred. I was _terrified_ when Rayla told me that you went into the storm, but you didn’t look back didn’t you? Of course not. Because, when you put your mind to something, you ignore everything else: your life, the people who love you. You don’t think about how they’ll feel if something were to happen to you,” she said, tears falling freely at this point, laying her fear bear for him to say.

Callum was stunned. He had only seen Claudia cry only once when her mother left. She was right. He didn't think what she and the others would feel if he were to die. The thought that it could be dangerous never crossed his mind. The only thing that mattered to him at that moment was to be able to do magic again. Everything else was a mere detail. The worse part was that this wasn't the first time. When he experimented with the _Fulminis_ spell, he could have gotten Rayla killed when he tossed her the stone. He had no idea what he was doing at the time. He clenched his fists and looked down in shame.

_What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I put Rayla at risk without even caring? Why didn’t I think about the dangers? Why didn't you think about how this would affect everyone? I love magic, but how did it come to the point that I would put not only myself but also the people I care about in danger? When did I become so obsessed with magic? _

Callum stepped forward and hugged Claudia who was crying her eyes out. He held her tight, comforting manner, resting his head on her shoulder. “Claudia, I’m so sorry. I never wanted to hurt. Please, forgive me. I promise I will never do it again.”

Claudia returned the hug. “So, you’ll stop trying to learn Primal Magic?”

He pulled back and stared at her right in the eyes. “No. I still want to learn Primal Magic, but from now I won’t put myself or others at risk.”

“Callum, you know it’s impossible to learn Primal Magic.”

He frowned. “Didn’t you once said that ‘impossible is just another form of possible’? Why don’t you believe in me?”

Claudia blinked before smiling and kissed Callum on the lips. "You're right, I said that. And I shouldn't discourage you. I'm sorry. I know you can pull it off. If someone can, it's you."

Callum smiled happily. _I’m the luckiest guy in the world_. This time he leaned in and kissed her.

Claudia giggled. “Come, let’s go to sleep. It’s been a long day,” she said as she pulled him by the hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 is currently being written and I think I will finish it before Christmas


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas guys! I hope all of you are enjoying yourself today.

Callum's morning started up perfect. He had a good night's sleep and woke up in the arms of the girl he loved. The weather was sunny and now the travelers could resume their journey. This also added to his already good mood. There still had a day until they reach the bay and the group decided to relax. Ezran was playing with the animals, Soren was enjoying the sun and Claudia was reading her book. He would have liked to continue his sword training, to keep his mind off magic at the moment, but while Rayla was feeling better, she still was seasick and he would not have to spar with Soren. That left him with nothing better to do. Then he remembered that he still has to read the letter from his adoptive father, his _last_ latter. Callum dreaded that because he felt that if he read it would be like letting him go and he didn't want to do that. But this might be the only respite he had left since tomorrow he will be crossing into Xadia, a hostile territory. He didn’t know if he would come back alive and he didn’t want to have any more regrets. With that in mind, he went down below the deck and pulled out Harrow’s final letter. Bait joined him and, while reluctant at first, he let the grumpy glow toad join him.

_Dear Callum,_

_Over the years there have been moments when I let there be distance between us. Because I'm your stepfather, I was trying to give you the space to love your real father, even though he passed away. Now, I wonder if I should have held you closer. I wonder if showing you how much would have been okay and would not have disrespected your relationship with him. Callum, I know that I'm not your birth father. But in my eyes and my heart, you are my son. I see myself in you. I'm proud of you. And I love you unconditionally._

Callum paused his reading to wipe his tears. He knew that Harrow loved him, but to hear him say (write) that meant the world to him. This only amplified his grief and regret. The wound he thought was closed was now bleeding again.

_As I write this, the sun is setting while Moonshadow assassins prepare to end my life. A few months ago I took my revenge on Xadia. Tonight, it’s their turn. I may not have long, so I’m forced to ask myself…what can I pass on to my two suns in the short time I have left? In this letter, I will share with you a lie, a wish and a secret. _

_When I'm gone, your brother will become king, and you will be his partner, his defender, and his closest adviser. Soon, you will both face a lie. The great lie of history. Advisors and scholars will tell you that history is a narrative of strength. They will recount stories of the rise and fall of nations and empires. They will be stories of armies, battles, and decisive victories. But this isn't true strength. It's merely power. I now believe that true strength is found in vulnerability…in forgiveness, in love. There is beautiful upside-down truth, which is that these moments of purest strength appear as weakness to those who don't know better. For a long time, I didn't know better. I ask you and your brother to reject history as a narrative of strength, and instead have faith that it can be a narrative of love. The last time I saw your mother she said: "I'll see you on the other side". I don't know what lies on the other side. But I do know I will be watching over you and your brother always. _

_I tried to be selfless as a king, but as a father, I have a selfish wish. And that is for you and Ezran to be free. Reject the chains of history. Do not let the past define your future, as I did. Free yourself from the past. Learn from it, understand it then let it go. Create a bright future from your own hearts and imagination._

_And finally, you must be wondering about the secret I promised to share. Well, good news. The secret is hidden in the Banther Lodge, right where you are now. How’s that for planning? Right now, go upstairs to the game room. There I have hidden an unusual cube with rune symbols on each side. This cube is an ancient relic that has been passed down through the ages. It belonged to an elven wizard in Xadia, the Archmage Aaravos, a master of all six primal sources. It is hidden in a box of keys because it is known as the “Key of Aaravos”, and legend says it unlocks something of great power in Xadia. Perhaps it will be you, Callum, who will discover the key’s secrets. _

Callum paused to look at the strange cube with wonder and curiosity as he could only imagine what secrets the cube unlocked. Since he will be going to Xadia, maybe he will figure it out.

_And one last extra-super-secret bonus secret. Did you know that Bait, our most soured friend, secretly loves belly rubs?_

Callum smiled and decided to verify that information. True to his adoptive father’s word, Bait loved being rubbed on his belly. He wondered if Ezran knew as well. The young prince let out a sigh. This letter has made him cry, filled him with hope and made him smile. All in all, it was bittersweet. As he sat there he made a promise.

_Dad, I promise that I will look after Ezran, just as you wanted. I’ll guide him when he's lost. I’m sure he will be a great king, better than you, just as you want it._

* * *

Rayla gasped, trying her best not to vomit, again. While she was doing better than before, her seasickness was still giving her a hard time.

“So, Rayla,” began Villadis. “That’s an unusual name, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, my human parents had an unusual taste in names, Villadis, with a silent 'D'," she responded with sass.

The captain chuckled. “’Tis fair. So, what do you do for a living?”

“I’m an assassin,” she replied as she twirled one of her blades.

The captain laughed only to stop abruptly. “Oh, you aren’t joking.”

“Well, I’m supposed to be an assassin, but I’ve never killed anyone.”

“Oh. Well, maybe someday. Never give up on your dreams,” Villadis responded, not sure how he could encourage the girl.

Rayla smirked. “Thanks for the encouragement. But the truth is, I’m not sure being an assassin is my dream after all.”

“Oh! So…what is your dream?”

She sighed. "I wish I knew." She felt quite lost compared to her party. Take Callum, for example, his dream is to learn Primal Magic. Ever since Runaan took her in, her future was set in stone: to become an assassin. She was never given a choice, and she didn't question it either. All she wanted at the time was to wash away the dishonor her parents have brought upon her and themselves. Now, that wish came true with the birth of the Dragon Prince. She was certain that all will be forgiven once the little dragon returns home. And then what? What will she do? Will she still be an assassin?

“I’m a crazy old man, but let me share some wisdom, will ya?” asked Villadis, breaking the silence.

She sighed. “Why not? I love wisdom. Bring it,” she said sarcastically. She doubted that the captain will have any good insights to share.

“Life is like a river,” he began and Rayla rolled her eyes at the cliché metaphor. “You can’t see too far ahead. I can’t see at all as I might have mentioned.”

“You mentioned,” piped Berto.

“You don’t know where the river of life will bend and turn. You don’t know where it will go at all,” continued Villadis.

“How is that supposed to be helpful?” asked the former assassin.

“Don’t try to control where the river goes. There’s one thing you can know and control, yourself. Look at yourself. Who are you Rayla? What do you stand for? Once you know that, then whatever the river takes you, you’ll be right where you are meant to be.”

Rayla smiled, understanding the wisdom of the captain’s words. “Villadis, that’s amazing. When you started talking I was sure you were going to spout some nonsense, but what you said is beautiful,” she said and gaze at the sea. Looking back at Villadis, she found him asleep.

“I’ll tell him later,” said the parrot.

Rayla smirked before turning her gaze to see Callum walking up to Ezran and hugged him.

“What was that for?” asked the little boy.

“You’re my brother and you mean everything to me,” Callum said as he pulled back.

“Is this a trick?”

Callum chuckled. “No trick. I just love you.”

Ezran smiled. “And I love you too.”

“Ezran, there is something you should know-“ Callum began, but cut himself off when he saw something move in the clouds.

“What was that?” asked Rayla as she came near them.

“What was what?” asked Claudia as she and her brother approached.

“In the sky. I saw a shadow,” explained Rayla.

The group looked at the sky, a feeling of unease settled on them.

* * *

The group reached the shore in the evening. When they said their goodbye to Villadis and Berto, Callum shook the captain’s hand and slipped him the last gold coin he had. The prince left quickly, ignoring the man’s protest at being paid. The adventures took shelter near a cave in a nearby mountain. As the rest of the group was sleeping, Callum and Rayla were training. The prince made a feint to hit Rayla in the ribs, but at the last minute, he changed his target to her head.

Rayla blocked the strike and smiled. “Good,” she praised before pushing Callum back.

Instead of attacking Callum circled the Moonshadow elf, making the elf feel proud. In just a couple of days, the prince improved considerably. Of course, he couldn't defeat her or Soren, but he could hold his own and win against most opponents. This time she went on the offensive and performed several stabs aimed at his chest, which were blocked or deflected. She reached the gap between them and cross their sticks, however, the cross didn't hold as Callum immediately back stepped and slashed at her legs, however, the attack was blocked. That didn't deter him as he immediately closed swung at her midsection. Rayla blocked the attack and quickly spun her weapon and disarmed the prince. “You lasted longer this time,” she said with a smile.

"All thanks to you," he responded with a smile.

Rayla felt her cheeks grew warm. “Uh, thanks. Now, there is one more thing I want you to practice before we go to bed. I am not an expert on how to handle shields, but I do know some things about them.”

“Before we do that, can I ask something?”

“Sure.”

“You were born with the Moon Arcanum, right?”

“Uh, I suppose so?”

“So, when you do cool moon powers, you’re connecting to the moon, right? How does that feel?”

“Uh, I don’t really think about it. I just stand in the light of the full moon and then there’s a feeling like…” she said and she began doing some weird moves and whooshing sounds. “And there is a sort of _ting_ and then…Moonshadow powers!” she finished with a dramatic pose. “Did that help?”

“No, but it was fun to watch,” he said with a smirk.

“Sorry, I couldn’t be more help,” she replied sheepishly

“Don’t be. I think I almost got it. I have a lot of stuff in my head and I have to put them all together.”

“Like a breakthrough?”

“Yeah. Besides, you’ve helped me plenty and I really am grateful.”

Again, Rayla blushed and coughed into her hand to cover it up. "You're welcome. Now, let's return to our exercise. Grab your shield," she instructed and he did what she told him. "Now, I will come at you and I want you to block or parry all my strikes without dodging. Ready?"

He nodded and she attacked.

* * *

The next morning, the group entered the frontier town to resupply for the journey into Xadia. Claudia and Soren expressed their concern that they might not be able to procure much since they were low on funds, but Callum assured them that he could get enough supplies. He didn't tell them about the jewelry he got from the Winter Lodge because Ezran was with them and he knew his little brother wouldn't be happy about this. Neither was he, to tell the truth. These belong to their mother and while they were indeed in need of supplies that didn't make selling them much easier. As they approached the town square the group noticed something was wrong. Several guards and townsfolk were staring at the sky, looking tense.

“What’s going on here?” asked Soren with authority.

As if on cue, a mighty roar was heard and a red dragon was flying over the town. Soren’s eyes sparked with excitement. This was a chance to fulfill his dream and defeat a dragon. "What haven't you shot it down, already? What are does ballistas for?” he asked the guards

“Well, it hasn’t attacked yet. It just flies around,” responded one of the guards.

“I’m taking charge here. I’m Crownguard,” Soren said and led the group up the tower.

“Soren, what are you doing?” asked Callum.

“I’m going to teach that dragon a lesson. Humans are not intimidated by giant flying lizards,” the young knight responded.

“What? You can’t it just flies around the town. It hasn’t hurt anyone,” protested Rayla.

“Rayla’s right Soren. We don’t have to fight. Just let it be,” supplied Callum.

“Let it be?! How can I let it be when the damn lizard terrorizes an entire town, flying above them threating? What if it decides one day to burn the town? What I’m doing now is called a pre-emptive strike. And you,” he said and pointed to Callum. “How can you defend that beast? Have you forgotten which side are you on?”

“I don’t belong to any side. What I’m trying to do is to prevent an all-out war to break out. And attacking someone because they might attack you isn’t right.”

Soren just grunted and continued working on the ballista.

“Soren, stop. Claudia, aren’t you going say anything?” asked Callum.

“I…” began Claudia, unsure.

“Enough of this!” said Rayla as she drew her blades and pointed one at Soren and revealing herself as an elf. “Step away from the ballista.”

“An elf!” gasped one of the guards that accompanied them and he and the others pointed their weapons at Rayla.

“Enough!” yelled Callum as he removed his helm. “I am Prince Callum and I order all of you to lower your weapons,” he ordered, his tone full of authority. The guards were taken aback, but they complied with the order. “Soren, step away from the ballista,” his tone was cold and hard.

Soren glared at Callum with loathing. “You are not my prince. You’re not even a real prince, you’re a step prince,” he said and fired the ballista at the dragon. 

The shot missed. The dragon flew up in the sky, seemingly leaving. A moment of silence followed the dragon seemingly leaving. Suddenly, a mighty roar was heard and the dragon swooped down and rained fire on the town and ballista. The group was able to avoid being burnt by the flames, however the same couldn't be said for the two guards that accompanied them. The dragon attack also destroyed the tower's ballistas, except for one.

“What do we do now?” asked a panicked Claudia.

“Ezran, Rayla and I will go and make sure that everyone will make it out of the town alive. You two stop the dragon," ordered Callum and they got to work.

* * *

_John Williams-Anakin's Betrayal_

While the trio evacuated the town, Claudia enchanted the ballista to make sure it would hit the dragon. Soren fired and the dragon dodged. Suddenly, the bolt quickly turned and followed the dragon. Seeing this, the dragon tried to shook it off, but he had no success. Eventually, the bolt hit the dragon and with a pained roar, the dragon fell. Seeing this, Rayla gasped. Up in the tower, Soren and Claudia breathed a sigh of relief. Reaching ground level, Soren took in the destruction that the dragon caused.

_I never wanted this. All I ever wanted was to protect my people and make my dad proud._

Soren was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt that he was pushed into a wall by someone. “Are you happy now?” asked Callum, his voice coming out as an angry hiss. “Look around Soren, none of this would have happened if you just dropped your ‘pre-emptive strike’ act.”

Soren knew that. He was aware that if he had left it well enough alone, this might not have happened. However, his anger clouded his judgment. Though, he wasn't angry at the prince. He was angry at himself and that anger was redirected at the younger boy.

_If you hadn’t confronted dad that night. If you and your stupid brother hadn’t left, none of this would have happened._

“I did what I had to protect humanity,” he said and shoved the younger boy off. “It’s _you_ who are friends with the enemy. GUARDS!” he yelled and half of the garrison surrounded them. “That elf has poised the minds of the princes. Seized them, for their own good!”

Callum and Ezran stared at him in horror, while Rayla glared at him with hatred.

“Soren! What do you think you’re doing?” asked a mortified Claudia.

"What we should have done from the very beginning, Claudia. Dad gave us the mission to bring back the princes. Not to mention that they intend on crossing into Xadia. You saw what a single dragon could do. In Xadia, there are countless dragons. It’s too dangerous!”

Claudia's eyes widen. What Soren said was the truth. Xadia is dangerous and they had a mission to complete. But this was betrayal. Could she do it? Then she remembered what she felt when Callum went into the storm. She had never felt so afraid before. She was afraid that she was going to lose him and she couldn't bear to lose another person she cared about. When she thought he had died, her whole world came undone. The way she felt during those moments was not something she could endure again. She would rather have him hate her and be alive than dead.

“Claudia?” he called and she looked at him. The moment their eyes made contact he felt his heart crack. He understood what was about to happen.

“Take them away,” she ordered, keeping her voice from cracking.

Callum didn’t fight as he was dragged away. He was numb and shocked that Claudia had betrayed him. The guards had thrown them in jail, where the group had spent an hour.

“What are we going to do?” asked Ezran as he calmed Zym down.

“We need to get out of here fast before Claudia and Soren show up,” said Rayla. “Hey guards, aren’t you going to feed us?!” she yelled.

“Quite elf!” barked one of the guards.

Rayla sighed. "That didn't work. Any other ideas?"

Ezran shook his and Callum was still sitting in a corner with his knees to his chest and his head buried in them. Rayla hated seeing Callum like this, but for now, she had to focus on getting them out of here. Suddenly the sound of fighting was heard outside the cell, made the group look at the entrance. A couple of moments later, Corvus entered with a key in hand.

“My princes!” he said with a quick bow before releasing them.

“You! Why are you helping us?” asked Rayla as she took a defensive stance.

“I was ordered by General Amaya to look after the princes. I only attacked you because I thought you meant them harm,” said the hunter. “We can discuss this later, but for now we need to leave now.”

* * *

The group sneaked out of the town into the forest where they stumbled on the injured dragon. They helped the dragon by removing the bolt from its side, but there was nothing more they could do as Viren’s children arrived with a squad of troops. Rayla wanted to stay and defend the dragon but was talked into leaving by Ezran and Callum. They eventually returned where they had first camped. It was a risk, but they figured they would be safe for a while there.

“Corvus,” said Callum as he approached the hunter.

“Yes, my prince,”

“Don’t tell Ezran about King Harrow. I want to do it.”

Corvus nodded. “Of course, my prince.”

“Thank you.”

Callum turned from the man and walked where Ezran was to finally tell him about their father’s fate when he saw Rayla staring into the valley. Sensing something was up, he walked up to her.

She looked over her shoulder and saw him approach, before turning back to look at the forest. “I shouldn’t have left her there. I should have defended her.”

“Rayla, there was nothing you could have done. We were outnumbered and we would have been caught again if they found us.”

“I know that, but it’s still wrong. I can feel it deep in my bones, Callum. I can’t help but feel responsible. If I had stopped Soren, then none of this would have happened!” she said, angry at herself.

“What happened wasn’t your fault, but Soren’s. He was the one who didn’t listen and he fired the ballista, not you. Don’t blame yourself.”

“But I could have done something! Or, at the very least help her! Instead, I ran away!” she said and took a deep breath. She might have messed up, but she can still make up for it. “I’m going back out there!”

“What?! Rayla it’s too dangerous!”

Rayla smiled. “Yeah, it is. But I’ve been thinking about something someone once told me. About how when one person hurts another, then that person hurts them back, it becomes a cycle that never ends.”

Callum smiled a bit too. “You’re right. If we’re going to change things, we can’t just watch as Xadia and the human kingdoms tear each other apart,” he said and then lowered his head in shame. “But I…I can’t do anything…I…”

“Callum, it’s okay,” she said as she grabbed his shoulder. “This is not your fight, but mine. If I’m not coming back, you and Ezran get Zym back home,” she said and took off.

It has been over an hour and Rayla still hasn’t returned. Ezran was playing with Zym and Bait, while Callum drew under the watchful gaze of Corvus.

“What are you doing?” asked Ezran innocently.

“Drawing,” came the crisp reply.

“Are you upset?”

“Yes, Ezran. I draw when I’m upset,” he said with a bit of edge of his voice. He began to draw absent-minded and halfway through his drawing, he realized that he drew Rayla in various poses. Rayla, one of the few people that had his back and he trusted with his life was now out there fighting for what she believed was right. And there he sat, twiddling his thumbs, being helpless once more.

_You impudent little mongrel! You were spoiled and given everything and that has left you weak and helpless!_

Callum gritted his teeth and focused on drawing, intent on drowning out Viren’s voice. He might have given Rayla that speech about breaking the cycle, but when push came to shove, he can’t back his words. He was weak, just as Viren said. Suddenly, his charcoal broke, messing up the drawing. With a frustrated growl he threw his sketchbook away, the pages flipped until they landed on a drawing of Claudia. The sight of that drawing made Callum remember his now ex-girlfriend betrayal. However, instead of numbness, now all that Callum felt was anger. He was about to tear away the piece of paper when he saw it. The thing that could help Rayla.

“I’m going after Rayla. Corvus, look after Ezran and Zym,” Callum ordered as he put on his helm and picked up his sword and shield.

However, none of the humans were aware that they were being watched from the shadows of the cave by a man. The man smirked as he watched Callum leave.

**“The time has come.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to finish the second season with this chapter but I ran out of time. I hope I handled Harrow's last letter alright. I was a bit apprehensive to include it. I just want to let you all know that from this moment I'm on a break. I'll start posting again after New Year. Happy Holidays everyone!


	10. Chapter 10

Rayla gritted her teeth as she was surrounded by humans. The chances of beating them all were slim at best, but she didn’t need to beat them to win. All that she needed to do was free the dragon. However, that was easier said than done since the injured creature was chained down and as Soren said, chains are hard to cut. Despite that, she refused to back down.

“Try not to kill her Soren,” said Claudia. “She can lead us to Callum and Ezran.”

_Like that will ever happen_ she scoffed mentally.

“She doesn’t have to,” a voice said and Rayla’s blood turned cold.

_No! What are you doing here, you idiot?!_

"Callum! You're safe," exclaimed Claudia happily, unaware of the prince's rage.

Rayla couldn’t see his face because of the helm, but she could tell he was angry by the way he carried himself. Then she noticed what he was carrying: Claudia’s book of spells and some green worm.

Claudia noticed too. “What are you doing?”

“Your kind of magic.”

She never knew that such a simple response could send chills down her spine.

“You don’t want to do this Callum,” Claudia said, panic clear in her voice as she slowly approached Callum. “It’s really dangerous unless someone shows you how.”

“Don’t worry. You already have.”

Rayla could only watch in shock horror as Callum, her best friend and the last person she would have thought would do such an awful thing, performed Dark Magic. He chanted and when she saw how his eyes started to glow purple from beneath the helm as green fire shot from his hand. The chains that held the dragon down turned into snakes and started to chase away the guards. Callum grunted in pain, collapsing on his knees, holding a hand to his chest.

“Callum!” she yelled, terrified. She was about to go to his side when a sword was pointed at her unguarded chest.

“Congratulations,” said Soren sarcastically. “That was impressive. Really. You did everything you could to save a monster that torched a town of innocents.”

Rayla narrowed her eyes. “You give her too much credit. Someone helped her, by shooting at her with a ballista bolt.”

The young knight scoffed. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I have a duty to protect my people and I’m not about to let an oversized lizard bully humanity or let it scout the terrain in preparation for an invasion. Don’t feed me that line that it was provoked. What was it doing here? Did it come to the human kingdom on vacation? We both know what it was doing here. But it doesn’t matter now, since its dead. And, in a moment, so will you.”

An angry roar was heard and the two teens thought that it was the dragon. However, the one who roared was fast approaching Callum, who slammed into Soren with his shield. All teens were unaware that he actually saved Soren from being smacked by the now awaken dragon.

* * *

Callum breathed heavily as he struggled to maintain his consciousness. It hurt to breathe and his body felt heavy, but that didn’t matter as he had done it. He had saved Rayla and the dragon. Now all that was left was for Rayla to come and drag him away while yelling at him for being stupid. He chuckled, despite the pain. He wasn’t in the mood for that. Maybe he could pass out before that could happen. He looked up to see how far was Rayla from him only to freeze in horror as a sword was inches away from Rayla’s chest. Someone, he couldn't see who, was threatening Rayla and with the way, the sword was inching closer to her he realized that the person planned to kill her.

_No! I can’t lose her too! I’ve lost enough people that I care about!_

Suddenly, a fire lit up in his soul. He had enough of losing people dear to him. He will not lose another. Who dared try and hurt Rayla?! He will teach them a lesson! All previous pain was gone now, as he stood up and with a primal roar, he charged at the distorted figure.

* * *

Soren grunted as he recovered from the surprise attack. What was more surprising was who attacked him: Callum, the clumsy, un-talented, step-prince. "You're dumber than I gave you credit," he said with a smirk, only to be quickly wiped as he dodged an attack that would have pierced his throat. To say he was shocked was an understatement. Callum, one of the most peaceful persons he had ever known tried to kill him. He frowned as he looked at the prince. "I see you finally show your true colors. I had to admit, you had me fooled, even when you took the elf’s side I thought you were just being tricked. But now I see that you are at heart a traitor!”

Callum didn't respond, instead swung down at Soren, trying to cut him in half. Fortunately for Soren, he was able to see the attack coming and blocked. His frown deepens as he blocked and kicked the prince back. The strike was strong, stronger than any strike Callum had ever thrown, but it was also easily telegraphed. He studied the armored prince for a bit. He breathed heavily and harshly, he didn’t say anything since their fight started and that was surprising since the prince was known to be chatty. What’s more, he swore he could see his eyes glowing green behind the helm. Is this the battle rage that he had heard about? When warriors on the battlefield give in to the bloodlust and lose all rational thought and attack like a beast until they are finally put down? But Callum didn’t participate in any battles to have such a thing. Or maybe he had it all along and never realized it? Or maybe it was Dark Magic? It’s not like he understood how it worked. He didn’t any more time to dwell on it, as the prince came at him with another strike that would have separated his upper body from his lower half had he not rolled back.

_Great. Now what? If he's given in to bloodlust than he wouldn't feel any pain. I need to land a strong attack that would put him down for good. But…there’s a chance I might kill him. Could this be the opportunity that I’ve been looking for? Prince Callum bewitched by evil elf magic and attacks his loyal subject before being stopped? It doesn't feel right. I'll do my best to spare him, but if push comes to shove then I have no choice._

* * *

Rayla watched in shock as Callum threw himself at Soren, acting like a rabid animal rather than a trained swordsman. The dragon was about to attack any humans, despite her attempts to make her leave. Then to make matters worse Zym appeared and while he convinced the red dragon to leave, it was still a big risk for him to be here. Her point was proven immediately after the dragon disappeared when Claudia appeared with the intent of capturing the little dragon. Rayla looked over at Callum, who realized that he had a shield in his hand and started to use it to block Soren’s attacks.

_Hold on for a little bit. I’m coming_

She sprinted towards Claudia with a battle cry and kicked her in the back. “You’re not going to take the Dragon Prince away,” she said, glaring at the young sorceress.

Claudia returned the glare with much venom. Her eyes and hands started to glow with dark power. She was about to chant when a cry of pain stopped her. Her eyes and hands stopped glowing, as she stared in horror past Claudia. Despite knowing it was a mistake to take your eyes off the enemy, Rayla trusted her gut and looked behind as well. What she saw froze her heart.

Soren underestimated the tenacity of the rage-fuelled prince as he blocked another slash, only to be bashed by his shield. He barely got time to recover, as Callum was onto him in an instant attacking relentlessly, in a frenzy that was impossible to predict his next strike. Eventually, Soren was overwhelmed and disarmed, completely at Callum’s mercy.

_He won’t kill me, right? We’re friends!_

His answer came when Callum raised his sword high above his head, ready to strike him down without a hint of hesitation.

“Callum! Stop!” yelled the Moonshadow elf and to Soren’s surprised, Callum did stop.

The armored prince stared at Soren, before looking at his hands who were holding the sword and shield. He couldn’t see his expression, but he was sure that the prince was shocked and horrified at what he was about to do. He swore he heard him mumbling ‘What was I going to do?’

“Callum we need to go!” yelled the elf.

Soren glared hatefully at his victorious opponent. _He won. Again_. Yes, Callum had won. And not just the duel. He won by being talented at drawing, by being smart and knowing things that Soren couldn't understand no matter how hard he tried. He won by having a loyal friend who stood by him no matter the odds. Most of the people Soren knew in the guards weren't his friends, they were his subordinates. Sure, they were friendly, but at the end of the day, he was their commanding officer, not a friend. And yes, Claudia was his best friend, but he wanted to have someone who could talk about things he couldn't with his sister, like how she is their dad's favorite, no matter how hard Soren worked. And finally, Callum had won by having a father who loved him unconditionally until the moment King Harrow had stopped breathing.

They say that anger clouds your judgment and makes you do things you will regret or will never do under normal circumstances. They were right.

With an angry roar, Soren picked up his sword and charged at Callum, intend on stabbing him.

“Callum, watch out!” yelled Rayla.

Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was the Dark Magic still empowering the boy. Whatever the case, Callum dodged the attack and brought his sword down. It was weird. Seeing something that you knew was going to happen before it actually did and not being able to do something to stop it. Especially when it felt like everything was slowed down. He watched as Callum’s sword slowly descended on his hands and for a brief moment he didn’t feel anything as the blade pierced through armor, flesh, and bone. Then time resumed its normal speed and Soren yelled in pain.

Callum looked in stunned horror. He didn't hear Claudia's yell or noticed her kneeling next to her brother. The world felt far away. The only thing he could see was how the sword cut through Soren's arms like they were butter.

“…allum,” he heard something, but it sounded distorted like he was underwater.

“…allum. Callum! We need to go!”

The prince blinked and saw Rayla shaking his arm to get his attention.

“Callum, please snap out of it! We need to leave!”

Leave. Right. They couldn’t stay here. The guards could return. He nodded and began running away when another voice called his name.

"Callum…" a broken and betrayed voice he knew well. Last time she had a similar tone and he couldn't look at her, but now he had to. He owned it to her. He turned and saw Claudia looking at him with tears in her eyes. Those eyes that once held love and kindness now held betrayal and damnation.

_Are you really going to leave after what you have done?_

Yes, yes he will. Because he still has a mission to accomplish. A mission to stop this senseless war. A mission to return a baby to his grieving mother. When that is finished he will return and accept her judgment. And so he ignored Claudia's cries, he ignored the way Rayla looked at him in concern and he ignored the frightened look on his brother’s face. He ignored them all.

* * *

It was raining. Or at least that's what it felt. He couldn't really see well. The only reason he could tell it was raining it was because some water droplets managed to get past his helm and hit his face. He wanted to remove the helm and let the waterfall over his sweaty face, but he didn't have enough strength to do that.

“Come on. We have to keep moving. We’re so close to the border. We could be in Xadia in just a few hours,” said Rayla as she carried him.

“I know we’re close, Rayla, but Callum’s not doing well,” said his brother, concerned.

“That’s his own fault for messing with Dark Magic,” scolded Rayla without a hint of sympathy.

Callum smirked tiredly at the fact that he more or less called it that she would be upset with him. “Don’t worry, Ez. I’m fine. We have to press forward,” he said and as if to show that he was in fact _not_ fine he tripped and fell on his knees. He looked upwards so that more rain could enter his helm.

“Callum?” asked Ez, his concern more noticeable. And he wasn’t sure but he thought Rayla was closer to him than before.

"I'm okay. I just need to rest my eyes while we walk," he said, his world coming out in slurs. He felt like that time where Soren dared him to drink ale. He doubted that this time he would get away with dehydration, headache, and extra homework as punishment. That was the last thing he said before darkness claimed him.

When he opened his eyes again he was on a pile of keys. Sitting up he saw something glowing red from under the pile. It was the cube he got from the Winter Lodge, with the symbol of Dark Magic glowing red. Callum stared in horror at it, realizing that the only thing here, wherever 'here' is, that could set off the cube was him.

“No!” he yelled and threw the repulsive cube away, only to be caught by a hooded person.

He blinked in confusion and stared at the person. From his build, he deduced that the person was male.

_Where did he come from? Maybe he knows where I am?_

He cautiously approached the hooded man, a sense of dread filling the closer he got. “Who are you?” he asked when he was close enough.

* * *

Rayla sighed as she stood guard over the unconscious Callum. Ever since they fled the forest everything went downhill. Callum's condition has worsened since he lost consciousness, his temperature rising, his breathing became shallow and his complexion became deathly pale with dark shadows forming around his eyes. He resembles a corpse, something that terrified the young elf, even if she didn't show it. Corvus seemed to share her opinion and that’s why he revealed the truth about King Harrow. Even though it was Callum’s duty to confess, the hunter feared that the prince might not get the chance and so he took it upon himself. Ezran was, understandably, distraught and needed some time to himself. However, too much time had passed and Corvus decided to look for him. And so here she was guarding Callum, Zym, and Bait while she waited for her other two companions.

“You stupid human,” she mumbled as she half glared at Callum. “You just got to go and hurt yourself using Dark Magic. Why were you even there? I told you that was my fight.”

A dark chuckled echoed. “You have to ask that? Really?”

In an instant she was on her feet, weapons drawn and ready for battle. Her eyes widen in fear when she saw the dark mage she met at the Moon Nexus.

“Shouldn’t you know the answer? I don’t know the boy and even I know why he did it,” he said with a smirk.

“What do you want?” she growled as she lowered herself a bit more, ready to jump in a heartbeat.

The mage chuckled again. “I am here to see the end of the boy’s path to magic.”

“Again with those riddles? What are you talking about?”

The mage’s smirk grew wider. “Humans can only do Dark Magic. Callum wants to do magic. What magic will Callum be able to do without a Primal Stone?”

Rayla’s eyes widen. “Dark Magic,” she whispered.

“Exactly. That is the only magic humans can do.”

“Why do you care about Callum?”

“I always keep an eye out for talent. And the boy has plenty. A power dark mage he will become.”

“Callum would never do Dark Magic! He hates it!”

“But didn’t he just do it? And so easily too. He’s a natural. And can’t a person change his mind? You certainly changed your mind about humans, didn’t you?” When Rayla didn’t answer him he continued. “You have my thanks. Without you, this would have taken much longer.”

Rayla felt like someone just punched her in the gut. “What?” she breathed out.

The man chuckled once more. “It’s because of you that he did Dark Magic. If you didn’t jump in to save that overgrown lizard, he would have still clung to the delusion that he could do Primal Magic. And to answer your question on why he did it: it's because he cares about you. Think about it: if he truly hates Dark Magic, you would expect him never to use it. Instead, when you were in danger he didn't even hesitate to use it, despite his feelings. To discard his feelings and use something he considers repulsive for someone else's sake if that isn't devotion than I don't know what is,” he said, laughing at Rayla’s horror at the truth. “It’s time to apply the finishing touches,” he said as he raised his hand. The hand glowed with dark power, and a dark aura formed itself around Callum’s body.

Rayla looked in horror at what the mage was doing, before anger took over and charged at the madman. She swung her blade, to cut off the glowing limb, only to miss as the man just vanished in thin air, only to appear a little to her left. She swung again, only for the same result.

He scoffed. “Foolish girl. I am beyond your reach. Now, be gone. I will allow you to live only for the fact that you kept my soon-to-be apprentice safe.”

_I…I can’t beat him. I’m nothing compared to this guy. All I can do is watch helplessly. _

Callum had a pained expression on his face as the dark aura around him became more predominant. That pained expression tore Rayla’s heart. She couldn’t bear to see him in pain. He should be smiling, like when he smiled during the boat ride, or when he watched Bait and Zym chasing each other, or when he was smiling at her. Rayla’s fists clenched before she released them and she let go of her blades as well. She ran towards Callum and kneeled besides.

“Callum, you have to fight this!” she pleaded as she shook his shoulders.

The mage laughed in amusement. “It’s no use. He can’t hear you anymore.”

“Callum!”

* * *

The person turned and removed the hood, revealing Callum himself. The prince's jaw hit the ground, before regaining his composure and taking a step backward.

“Callum, don’t be frightened,” his cloaked version of himself said.

He calmed himself a bit. “I’m not…I’m just-“

“Confused,” they said at the same time.

“Of course you are,” his other self continued. “You tried dark magic for the first time. No one expects that to be easy.”

“But that’s the thing. It was easy. Too easy. Even though I know it’s wrong.”

“But is it really so wrong?”

“Yes.”

The cloaked Callum extended the cube to other Callum. “Is it though?”

“Yes.”

“Is it?” cloaked Callum asked with a smirk.

“Yes!” he yelled and looked away, his voice echoing in the dark void.

“Callum, look at me. You’re looking at yourself. You need to accept your destiny,” the cloaked version of himself said as he extended the cube to him again.

“I can’t do that,” he said firmly.

“You are human. You weren’t born with an Arcanum to do Primal Magic, but you were born to do _magic_. The kind of magic that humans can do. You can have unlimited power,” as the cube changed all its symbols with the Dark Magic one. “And you can choose what to do with that power! You can make a real difference in the world. All you need to do now is accepted. Your destiny is already written!” he said with a smirk.

“I…”

_Is it really my destiny? It seems no matter what I do, learning Dark Magic is where I end up anyway. But using all those innocent creatures…It’s not right_

** _Is it though? Remember what Claudia said? It's just like hunting. If people won't hunt animals they would starve to death. This is no different. Accept it! Accept your destiny!_ **

"Accept your destiny," said cloaked Callum and presented the cube one more time.

_This…is my destiny_

Callum slowly reached for the cube, the lure of Dark Magic growing stronger. It was so strong that he didn't notice how the eyes of his other self flashed red for a moment as an evil smirk appears on his face.

“Callum,” a voice called. A voice he hadn't heard in a while and will probably never hear again. Both Callums turned and saw King Harrow chained to his throne. "You are free. You are free both from the past and in the future. Nothing is written in stone. Fate is a lie. You are free!"

Cloaked Callum scowled. “Look inside yourself, Callum. This _is_ your destiny, you can’t deny it.”

Callum looked at the cube again, the promise of unlimited power whispered to him again. He raised his hand and slowly reached for the cube, however, he wasn’t so seduced by Dark Magic that he could ignore the world around. As he reached he saw how the appearance of his cloaked self changed slightly. His skin was rotten, his hair grey and his eyes were black as the night, looking more like a corpse than a living being. The smirk on his face sent chills down his spine, as it spoke of an unspeakable evil.

Callum pulled his hand back immediately. “No! I get to choose who I want to be. And I don’t want to become you! I’ll never become you!”

“Your destiny is already written!” cloaked Callum said, showing his true form

“No! Destiny is a book you write yourself!”

The cube stopped glowing, dark Callum dropped it and disappeared before it touched the ground. Dark Callum looked hatefully at his normal self before he shattered in a million shards.

* * *

The dark mage let out a cry in pain as he held his hand. The dark aura that surrounded Callum disappeared and Rayla’s heart soared with hope.

“You!” growled the dark mage. “I offer you unlimited power and you spit in my face?! If that is what you want, then fine! Die!” he said and snapped his fingers.

At that moment, Callum started to gasp for breath.

"Callum!" she called, the hope she felt evaporated like water in the desert. "What did you do?!" she turned at the mage, only to see he had vanished. She quickly turned to her ill friend. "Callum!" she called again, the hopelessness she felt threaten to break her. "Callum, please! You've got to stay with me!" she begged as tears fell from her eyes.

* * *

Callum found himself on Captain Villadis’s ship, right in the middle of a storm.

“Ahoy, Callum! I hear ye be needing a boat,” the captain’s voice came clear despite the howling of the wind.

“I need a boat?” asked Callum confused.

“Aye! For yer voyage! Into yer own heart and mind.”

He smiled. "Let's hope the weather be nice there!" he said, excited at going on sailing again.

His excitement turned into fear as they kept sailing through the storm. Callum held onto dear life as the winds and waves threatened to push him off the ship. This storm was worse than the one he encountered in real life.

"Hoist the mainsail!" ordered the captain as he left the wheel.

"What? I don't know how to hoist any sail!" yelled Callum to bring Villadis back.

“It’s yer journey. You be the sail, I’ll hoist ya!” he said as he tied Callum’s arm. “Find the wind, boy! Be like the wind!” he yelled and yanked the rope and Callum understood what the sail was and what hoisting it means.

Then suddenly with a flash of lightning, the ship was destroyed and Callum was using a piece of debris to keep himself afloat.

“Your conscience is a messy place, boyo!” Villadis said before he was taken away by a giant Berto.

“Wait! Don’t leave me here!” called Callum desperately.

The storm grew even stronger, Callum struggling to stay on the piece of debris, but he was eventually swallowed by the sea.

_Callum. Callum. _A voice called out his name as he drowned.

_Who’s that? Who’s calling me?_

_Callum, breathe. Breathe_

He tried, but it was hard. He had so much stuff that needs to do that he didn’t have time to breathe: getting Zym to Xadia, telling Ez about Dad, dealing with Claudia and Soren, saving Rayla and _Viren_.

“Callum, you need to breathe,” a gentle voice he hadn’t heard in years said, a comforting hand rested on his shoulder. “You just need to breathe sweetie!”

He breathed. “I feel so overwhelmed by everything. I have so many thoughts running through my head.”

“Sometimes you need to just focus on the present, take a deep breath and just be,” his mother said

* * *

“Oh, Callum! Please come back,” begged Rayla as she hugged her best friend, his breathing almost stopped. "It doesn't matter what you did before. I just want you to be okay again."

Unknown to the elf, the cube’s sky symbol hummed as its light flickered.

* * *

“Sometimes things can get so complicated that our minds can’t quite sort them all alone. But when you slow down and let yourself breathe, your spirit and your body can catch up with your mind and help out,” Sarai explained.

“I just have to…breathe?” he asked and opened his eyes. He saw his mother smiling at him gently. The two of them were in the royal bedroom, in Katolis Castle, however, the room was surrounded by fog. He inhaled and exhaled, just how his mother had said. The fog started to clear and everything else became visible.

"To know something truly and deeply, you must know it with your head, hand, and heart. Mind, body and spirit," she said and pulled her child into a hug. "I love you with all of myself and I always will."

“I love you too, mom.”

His world turned white.

_Callum! Callum!_ A voice called

_Who’s that? Who’s calling me?_

A smile appeared on his face.

_Ah, it’s you!_

* * *

“I can’t lose you like this, you mean too much to me!” Rayla said as she desperately hugged Callum. She pulled back, looking at his face that was shadowed by his hair. “Callum…I…”

Whatever she was going to say died in her throat as Callum woke up with a gasp as he took the air in his lungs.

“Oh! Look, you’re awake now,” she said with a nervous laugh. “You even looking cheery. And is that a twinkle in your eye? Oh, no, it’s one of those sleep crusties. Let me,” she said and then proceeded to remove the crust.

Callum watched her with a smile. _Ah, Rayla. Your weirdness is one of the things I like about you. Never change_

“I have it,” he said, making her stop. “I understand the Sky Arcanum.”

She looks at him in confusion and Callum can’t blame her. “You understand the Sky Arcanum now?”

He smiled. “It’s not one simple thing. It’s all the things. They just have to…come together, you know?” he says and he knows he’s not explaining it well. What he went through in his subconscious was confusing, but it helped him understand. “It’s like I used to hold the power of the sky in my hand, right? But now that’s gone. But Rayla, the whole world is like one giant Primal Stone and we’re inside it! I’m inside Sky Magic, but it’s also in me, with every breath I take.”

“That kind of make sense,” she said with a polite smile, not really understanding.

“It’s the moment of truth now,” he says and walks over the edge.

He closes his eyes and concentrates.

_Breathe_

He drew the rune, feeling the power surging through him. Behind him, Rayla watched with bated breath. Once was done he whispered the spell’s name and release the power. Rayla watched in amazement.

“Ezran is back!” she shouted when he saw the little boy, causing Callum to turn and hit them with the blast of air. It wasn’t a powerful one that knocked Ezran and Corvus off their feet, but it surprised them none the less.

“Callum, you figured it out? You can do magic again!” said the boy happily.

“That’s incredible prince Callum,” Corvus commended.

“Thanks. Can I have a word alone with Ezran, please?”

“Of course,” The hunter bowed and went further away. Rayla looked at them for a moment before following Corvus.

“Listen, Ezran. There is something you must know…” Callum began.

“I know about dad,” said the boy sadly.

“Oh…I’m sorry Ezran. I wanted to tell you, I just…I couldn’t form the words…I…”

Ezran hugged his brother. "It's okay. I'm not mad. I understand. But dad is gone, Callum. We're all alone," said the boy, sadness and fear clear in his voice.

“Hey, hey, we’re not alone! We’ve got Rayla, aunt Amaya and Corvus,” said the older brother as he hugged him a bit tighter.

“And Soren and Claudia too!”

Callum looked away sadly. “I don’t know, Ez. Some things happened.”

“It’s going to be ok! I’ve talked to Claudia and she knows a way to heal Soren. Everything’s going to be okay!”

Maybe it was his innocence or maybe it was the trust he had in his brother. Whatever the case Callum smiled nonetheless. “Maybe. We’ll see,” he said, doubtful but willing to believe Ezran’s words.

“There’s something I want to tell you,” said Ezran seriously. “Callum, when you told me that assassins are going to come after dad, I ran away and hid in the walls.”

"With a healthy stash of jelly tarts, if I recall," said Callum to dispel the somber tone. It didn't work.

“Yeah,” Ezran said dejectedly. “And when I found the truth about dad, I ran away again. I’ve been running away from things my whole life. But I can’t run from growing up.”

Callum smirked. “Now that you’re King Ezran, are you going to say wise things all the time?" he teased, but it didn't cheer Ezran up.

“When you grow up, you have to face things you’re not ready for.”

“Wait, what?” Callum asked, confused

“I’m not going with you to Xadia. I have to face my responsibility. Now that I am king, I have to go home. Maybe I can help the world better from the throne. I can do whatever I can to stop the war,” he said with conviction.

“Ezran, returning Zym to his mother is the world’s best hope,” said Rayla.

“Not to mention that Viren is there,” said Callum.

“What do you mean?” Ezran asked his brother.

“Ezran, that night when I went to see Dad, Viren was there. He was the one who stole the egg and kept it hidden. He took my voice for a time to prevent me to say anything to Dad about it. And when the assassins attacked he ran away, leaving Dad alone,” he said, letting the new information sink in. The others looked horrified by what they have learned. “That’s why I don’t think it’s a good idea to return home.”

“Prince Callum, I can look after King Ezran and keep him from harm,” said Corvus.

Callum bit his tongue so that he wouldn’t say anything. He had faith in Corvus’s skills, but Viren was a man who could use magic. Corvus wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

“Not to mention that Lord Viren would not dare to harm King Ezran as he would invoke the Court’s wrath. And from the last time I heard, General Amaya was at the castle,” continued the hunter.

Callum wanted to scoff. If Viren let King Harrow died, who used to be his best friend, Callum doubted that the mage would care about the Court. If his aunt was present at the castle, Viren might be kept under control. His aunt is not only a great warrior and tactical genius but also very influential within the army. If Viren were to dispose of her, he doubted that the army would follow him and without the army, the elves would conquer Katolis. While he didn’t know what Viren’s plan, he doubted the man would let the elves rule. Of course, Viren could have convinced his aunt to return to the Breach or found a way to dispose of her and keep the army in line.

He clenched his fists in frustration. There were too many unknown variables.

“Callum, I don’t want us to say goodbye angry,” said Ezran looking at him in apprehension.

He sighed. "I'm not angry. I just worry about you."

Ezran smiled. "I’ll be fine. I have Corvus with me. And there is still Opheli and aunt Amaya if she is still home. And I’ve talked to Claudia, everything will be fine.”

His heart skipped a beat. “You…you talked with Claudia?”

Ezran nodded. “Yeah. She’s just confused. It was really scary what happened back there. But everything will be okay. She knows how to cure Soren.”

Callum smiled. It was a weak smile that showed the doubts he felt.

_There’s no way Claudia wouldn’t seek revenge after what happened, even if she manages to restore Soren’s arms. But she wouldn’t hurt Ezran wouldn’t she? He is just a kid. If she has beef with me, she would come after me directly, right?_

"It's not like I can stop you. I know how much you hate being forced to do stuff."

Ezran smirked. “You know me so well.”

He smirked in return. “If I don’t know you, no one does,” he said and hugged his brother. “I love little brother. Dad would be so proud of you.”

“And he would be proud of you too,” the little boy said, returning the hug.

“Please take care of him Corvus,” asked Callum.

“You have my word, Prince Callum,” said the hunter.

Ezran hugged Rayla and Zym goodbye before leaving with Corvus.

“We should get moving,” said Rayla once Ezran and Corvus disappeared from sight.

“Yeah. Lead the way.” 

* * *

"This canyon leads to the Moonstone Path," said Rayla as they walked.

“I can’t believe we’re almost to Xadia," Callum commented. To him, it felt like a lifetime ago he left his home. Not to mention someone important was missing. "We came this far and…Ez isn’t with us.”

“I know. But we can’t think about it right now. He’s doing the right thing and so are we.”

The duo reached the Breach, where the river of lava was covered by rocks that one could walk on them. Callum was about to step on a rock before Rayla grabbed him and pulled him back.

“There is a trick to it,” she said before tossing a stone. All rocks that were touched by the stone sunk immediately. Callum grimaced at the painful end he narrowly avoided thanks to Rayla.

_From now on, I’ll do what Rayla says without question and stop charging in without thinking._

“Not all rocks sink that quickly,” she explained. “A few will let us stand on them so that we can cross. Those stones are called the Moonstone Path.”

“Okay, great. How do we know which stones are safe?” asked Callum

“Patience, friend,” she said, adopting a mysterious air about her as she pointed to the sky. More specifically, the moon. The moonlight shined upon the rocks, revealing rocks with elven markings on them, signifying that they are safe.

“I get it now,” replied with a smirk the young mage.

They walked across the lake of fire when Rayla spoke. “The sky is getting brighter. If the sun rises we won’t be able to see the runs anymore.”

And as if to emphasize her point, the light of the sun erased some runes.

“Run!” yelled Callum before the duo broke into a sprint.

However no matter how fast they run they weren’t able to reach the other side, as the rays of sunlight erased the runes that showed them the path. And to make matters worse the stones behind them started to sink into the lava. Before Callum and Rayla could think of a solution Zym took flight and blocked the sunlight, which allowed Callum and Rayla to cross safely to the other side.

“We did it! We made it across!” cheered Callum

In their excitement, Callum and Rayla hugged each other and Zym came in between them yipping happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little note: originally, I had planned to kill Soren here, but after season 3, I just couldn't


	11. Chapter 11

“Are you feeling okay? How are your hands?” asked Claudia as she helped Soren get up from the bed.

“I’m alright. My hands feel a little numb, but I’m alright. What about you? You don’t look so good,” Soren said, looking at his sister with concern.

His assessment was not wrong. Her skin was pale, bags were under her eyes and most notable change was the white strand of hair she was sporting.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

It was an understatement. She could barely keep her eyes open. The spell took a lot out of her, but she didn't regret using it.

“Do you think you would be able to travel tomorrow?” she asked her brother. She would have liked if they could leave right now, but she wasn’t certain she wouldn’t faint on the road.

“Yeah. Don't worry, I'm fine. Thank you, Claudia, you saved my life," he said, smiling at her.

She smiled back. "You don't have to thank me for that. You're my brother and you might be annoying, but I love you, dummy."

“Are we going back home or are we following the princes?”

A good question. A part of her wanted to go after Callum since he had a few things to answer for, but what Soren said about their dad needed to be addressed first.

_No way could dad have asked Soren to kill the princes, but that would explain why Soren attack Callum when he turned his back on him. I need to get to the bottom of this._

“We’re going home, Soren,” she said firmly.

“What are we going to tell dad that we failed?” he asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

“Leave the explanation to me. You get some rest.”

“Right back at you.”

* * *

The cloaked figure watched dejectedly as the human and the elf crossed into Xadia. He regretted that he allowed his anger to lash out and almost kill the boy. It would have been such a waste to kill such a talented individual. And the boy was quite talented. He was surprised that the boy managed to destroy the spell he casted on him through sheer will, the prince went one further and unlocked the Sky Arcanum. His life span over thousands of years, and not once had he seen someone who could wield Primal Magic without a Primal Stone. But lo and behold, the little human shattered all his expectations. And with that, new possibilities emerged. If humans can connect to the Primal, then, in theory, they would be able to use all kinds of Primal Magic without a Primal Stone. If that is true then Dark Magic would no longer be required to do cast spells, thus the damage done by Dark Magic to the body wouldn't be present. However, that isn't to say that Dark Magic wasn't useful. It helped him stay alive for a long period of time. But there is only so much it can do. His body was starting to decay and while the life force of other living beings slowed the process down, it didn't stop it. In a few years, he will die. That’s why he wanted an apprentice, to have someone to pass down his knowledge. And he found the perfect candidate in the boy. Now, however, he discovered something even better: something new to study. If he discovers how to connect to the Primal, he could focus all his remaining time on achieving immortality, or leave enough information behind so that his apprentice could continue his work.

He turned his gaze to the siblings resting in one of the remaining houses in the village. The girl showed promise, using the simple healing spell to regenerate his brother’s arms. The only problem was that she started to show the signs of Dark Magic usage. That usually happens in the late twenties or early thirties. The girl was barely in her early twenties.

_A weak constitution. Not good._

Perhaps, he could still convince the boy to learn Dark Magic. At the very least, help him obtain immortality. He turned his attention back to the boy and the elf. They had crossed the Breach, however, that was the easy part. They will come face to face with Sol Regem. The thought of the former King of Dragons made his blood boil, but he controlled himself. As much as he wanted to end that overgrown lizard, doing so will leave him weak.

_One day, my nemesis. One day_

* * *

“That’s no ordinary dragon,” said Rayla as she and Callum took cover behind one rock.

“’Ordinary’ is not something I would use to describe a dragon,” commented the prince.

“His name is Sol Regem, the Sun King. He was the King of the Dragons long ago. But he was blinded when the wars began, and he’s become a symbol of bitterness and rage.”

“Okay, so, an enormous, angry, blind dragon is blocking our path into Xadia. What do we do?”

“Well, we can’t fight him. Our swords are fit to be his toothpicks and you’ve just got your cute spells. We’ll have to sneak past him. Callum, it’s to get your first lesson in the ways of stealth.”

“Nice!” exclaimed Callum happily. Realizing his mistake, Callum pulled down his visor. “Nice…” he whispered.

Rayla smirked. “First off. Armor is not appropriate for stealth.”

The prince nodded. “You’re right. I should take it off. Besides, wearing armor in Xadia might let the elves that I’m hostile.”

“Do that when we’ve gotten past the angry dragon. Now, the secret of stealth is that you don’t have to be invisible. You just have to be invisible to your enemy’s senses.”

“Well, he’s blind so that's one sense we don't have to worry about. So, all that remains is to trick his hearing and smell. If we can do that we will avoid his sense of taste and touch too."

Rayla nodded, smiling. “Good. Now follow my lead.”

“Hmm, all this talk about senses and appearances, it kinda sounds like the Moon Arcanum,” pondered Callum.

“If you say so, mage,” teased Rayla.

Rayla took the lead, using the wind to cover her and Callum’s movement. Callum was right behind, trying to keep Zym quiet and wishing his brother were with them. He would know how to calm Zym. At one point Zym became so agitated that he escaped from Callum’s grasp. Sol Regem heard the baby dragon and roared before letting out a powerful flame blast. The duo barely managed to dodge the attack.

“Okay, now what?” asked Callum as he panted. “Okay, so sneaking is out, fighting is out. What do we do?”

Rayla sighed. "Looks like is down to my least favorite course of action: reason. You stay here. Maybe he didn't spot you," she said and went to face the ancient dragon. Callum looked at her retreating back with worry. "Mighty Sol Regem,” she said as she approached. “I am Rayla of the Moonshadow elves,” she said and bowed.

Sol Regem took a sniff of Rayla as he lowered his head at her. “What are you doing?” he growled.

_It talked! The dragon **talked**!_ Callum thought as his fear spiked.

“Uh…I’m bowing great dragon,” Rayla responded and Callum could tell that she too was afraid.

“No. I mean, why are you here?”

“We have been traveling in the human kingdoms on the business of Zubeia, the Dragon Queen. We humbly ask your permission to cross back into Xadia.”

“What kind of business would send you to the wretched human lands?”

“We are transporting something precious, someone precious. The new-born Dragon Prince, Azymondias!”

“Lies! You dare lie to me?! The egg of the Dragon King has been destroyed!” roared the angry dragon.

“No! Wait! I have him here!” said Rayla desperately before she went and grabbed Zym, despite the baby dragon’s protests. “The Dragon Prince lives! And he is very cute!”

Sol Regem lowered his head and sniffed Rayla and Zym. “How is this possible?” he asked, astonished.

“It is a miracle! He needs to return home. Please, allow us to pass, so we can reunite him with his mother,” pleaded Rayla.

“I do not understand how the Dragon Prince came to be in the human lands. However, I will allow you and the dragonling to pass back into Xadia,” Sol Regem said, making the duo breathe in relief. “But not the filthy human who cowers nearby,” he continued, the duo once again tensed.

“Sol Regem…” Rayla started to speak, but Callum cut her off.

“It’s okay Rayla. You go without me,” he said calmly. He was sad that he couldn’t see this journey to the end, but he understood that perhaps it would be better this way. Rayla would be allowed safe passage back into her homeland and the elves there would treat her like a hero for bringing back the Dragon Prince. If he were to come along, someone might accuse her of treason, of attempting to deceive the Dragon Queen.

“No! Callum, we were so close!” she said. The thought of leaving Callum behind was inconceivable to her

Callum smiled sadly. “Rayla, it’s alright. Getting Zym back to his mom is what matters. Just tell the Dragon Queen I helped a little. I’m going home.”

Suddenly, Sol Regem started to chuckle sinisterly. “Home? No. There are two choices. You all die, or just the wretched evil human dies.”

Callum and Rayla’s bodies just turned cold.

“What? You would kill one of your people and the Dragon Prince?” asked the human prince incredulously.

The ancient dragon let out a huff. “I am merely allowing the dragonling to pass as a favor to Zubeia, but he will never be my King. ‘One of your people’? She isn’t one of my people. She is a traitorous insect, little better than you, filthy human.”

Rayla passed Zym to Callum and step forward to confront Sol Regem. “I agree with you, Sol Regem. Some humans are evil. But not this one. Not Callum. The only reason the Dragon Prince is alive is because of this human. He left his home and family to save the egg, and he sacrificed everything so Azymondias could be born,” she spoke from her heart and turned to one of the most important people in her life and smiled. "He's noble and true. When we met he could have me captured or killed. But he didn’t, because without him me, or anything about me, he saw past human hatred and did what he thought was right. He’s smart and kind and brave and he’s…my friend. My best friend.”

Warm flooded Callum’s entire being. He never had someone who spoke so highly of him, who defended him in front of a big dragon without showing an ounce of fear. He smiled as he took her hand.

_I’m so lucky to have you in my life Rayla._

“So please, allow him to pass into Xadia and help take the Dragon Prince home. Because I don’t think I can do it without him,” Rayla finished her pleading on Callum’s behalf.

So honest was her plea that Sol Regem decided to give Callum a chance. He approached and took a sniff at them before he roared.

“I smell death!”

“What? No! Callum is different,” pleaded Rayla

“I smell the reek of Dark Magic on him,” Sol Regem said and Callum froze as he remembered the only time he used Dark Magic.

He had been desperate and hopeless. When he used Dark Magic he felt pain, but there was power in that pain, a power that had enabled him to defeat Soren. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. He shivered when he remembered the feeling Dark Magic gave him when he promised him unlimited power.

“He’s no different,” continued the ancient dragon. “He rips the life and magic out of innocent creatures. He must die.”

Sol Regem neck started to glow and Rayla and Callum quickly took cover behind some rocks.

“Rayla, you take Zym and make a run for it. I’ll distract him,” Callum said.

“What?! No, that’s crazy!” exclaimed the elf terrified.

“I’m not going to fight him, just distract him long enough for you to get away. After that I’ll follow or run away,” he explained.

It was barely a plan, to begin with, one that has a high chance of ending with him dead. But he was okay with that. Obviously, he didn't want to die, but if his sacrifice would keep Rayla and Zym safe, he would do it.

“No! We’ll find another way!”

“Rayla…”

“I said ‘no’ Callum! We either do this together or not at all!” she said while glaring with determination at him.

Looking at her now, he realized what consequences his actions would have on her. He would probably die and she would be alone.

_He’s my friend. My best friend._

_Because I don’t think I can do this without him_

“You can be so stubborn sometimes,” he said with a playful smirk.

“And you can be a real idiot sometimes,” she responded with a smirk of her own.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“He can do his fire breath once every few minutes. If we can trick his senses we can escape before he can do it again.”

“We can only truly know the appearance itself,” Callum mumbled in thought.

“Now you sound like Lujanne.”

"When we were at Moon Nexus, I felt like I was close to understanding the Moon Arcanum, maybe in Xadia I will finally be able to understand it. But back to the present. I can use it to blow my scent to a different place. It would be like…ventriloquism but with smell. Smelltriloquism!” he said and Rayla facepalmed. "Vensmelloquism,” he tried again.

“It's a stupid idea. But there might be some merit to it," she said and Callum's fist pumped.

“Time is up!” roared Sol Regem and used his tail to swipe at nearby rocks.

“Give me your scarf. If I wear it, I’ll smell like you and draw his fire,” she said.

“What?! How is this better than me distracting him?”

“Because I’m faster than you or him. I’ll be fine.”

Callum gave her his scarf, but he was still a bit reluctant with the plan, thinking this was her worst plan yet. “I haven’t bathed or wash this in weeks. This would do the trick.”

Rayla smelled the scarf and gaged.

“Right?” he asked with a smirk.

Rayla just put the scarf on with an unamused look on her face.

“Here goes nothing,” she said, steeling herself.

Callum arranged the scarf around her neck in an attempt to calm himself. He moved his gaze upwards and found himself staring into Rayla’s eyes. He smiled a little, trying to assure Rayla that everything will be fine, but she quickly looked away, rubbing her left arm. The plan worked and Sol Regem followed Rayla. She managed to avoid his fire breath just in time, but she was caught under debris. Callum’s heart skipped a beat when she got trapped and went to help her, only to stop when Rayla signaling to stay away as the ancient dragon approached. Callum signaled Rayla to throw the scarf and when she did he used Aspiro to blow it away. Tapping into his connection with the Sky Arcanum he felt the winds carrying his scarf and manipulated them into carrying in through a stone arc. Sol Regem followed the scent and got trapped by the arc. Once Rayla was freed and Callum recovered his scarf, the duo ran away from the dragon and entered Xadia.

Far away, the man in black cloak watched the whole spectacle and laughed when he saw his nemesis got tricked and humiliated by two kids.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I know it has been a while and I'm sorry for not letting you know that I would go into hiatus. A lot of stuff happened to me in the past couple of months and I need time to deal with them and recover. Once again, I'm sorry for not letting you guys know that I'll be on a break.

“How long are they going to keep us here?” asked a frustrated Claudia as she paced around the room they were locked in.

“At least they had given us bread,” said Soren, taking a bite. “They’ll probably give us bread in the dungeon.”

“We’re not going to the dungeon, Soren. We didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Doesn’t matter. Dad is in prison and everyone is telling Ezran we’re guilty. At least I am,” he said as flashbacks with his confrontation with Callum in the forest. He felt an itching where Callum had cut off his arms, just a little below the elbows, his newly restored arms still felt numb.

“Ezran thinks for himself. And I don't know if you misunderstood, misheard, or mislisten, but Dad would never ask something like this. He's probably in prison because he steps on the toes of the Council and they saw the opportunity to get rid of him,” Claudia refuted. “And why are you staking the bread like that?!”

Soren held up 3 baguettes. “It’s a bread sandwich,” he explained.

Claudia let out a frustrated groan.

* * *

Callum stared at the night sky as if trying to find the answers in the stars. Rayla was sleeping beside him. They abandoned the need for watchers during the night, at least for where they were now. Rayla had told him that no one comes through these parts since Sol Regem took residence here. Even the predators stayed clear of this place, fearing the ancient dragon.

“Callum?” called a sleepy Rayla as she stood up. “Why are you up?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked concerned.

“Nothing. Don’t worry, I’ll go to sleep in a few minutes.”

“Callum…" she said, her tone letting him know that she won't quit.

He sighed. “I was just thinking about Ezran.”

“You’re worried about him.”

“I am. I don’t know what Viren will do. I keep thinking that he’ll poison him, or do something to his mind, or…”

“Callum, you need to stop,” she said as she grabbed his shoulders. “You’re going to drive yourself crazy!”

“I can help it!” he exclaimed frustrated, looking away. “I know that that I have to focus on the mission at hand, but when we take a break or camp, it’s all coming back! And not just Ezran, what happened with Soren and Claudia. My best friends betrayed me! The girl I liked betrayed me! Now I question everything that has happened between me and her. Did she really returned my feelings or just use them in order to trick me? And Soren! Soren was my best friend and I cut his arms off! God, I’m such a mess!”

“Callum, look at me,” she instructed and he did as he was told, a timid expression on his face. “Now breathe,” she said and he inhaled and exhaled. “Worrying about Ezran and thinking about Claudia and Soren won’t help you. You’ve got to have faith that Ezran will be alright. And what happened to Soren wasn’t your fault, he wanted to kill you, you defended yourself,” she said before looking away. “If you really want to blame someone, blame me.”

“What?!” exclaimed in shock Callum.

Rayla let go of his shoulders. "If I had been more careful, you wouldn't have to use Dark Magic to rescue me."

“Rayla,” he said as this time he grabbed her shoulders, but she didn’t look at him. “What happened isn’t your fault either. I used Dark Magic because I couldn’t think of anything else. I was too weak to do anything.”

She looked at him, the guilt she felt for forcing him to use Dark Magic visible on her face. “But Callum, if I hadn’t been surrounded you wouldn’t have had to use Dark Magic. I…I made you step on your principles and it almost killed you.”

He smiled and Rayla’s heart skipped a beat. “Rayla, you are more important than my principles. If I have to, I would do it again in a heartbeat, no matter how much I hate Dark Magic or if it could kill me.”

Rayla stared at him with wide eyes, her cheeks were burning. When she fully registered his words, she glared. “You idiot!” she said and punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow, what was that for?!” he exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder.

“Don’t ever say something like that again! Your principles matter! _You_ matter!” Rayla yelled angrily. A moment of silence settled between them as each gathers their thoughts. “There is something I have to tell you. When we were at the Moon Nexus I met a Dark Mage. At the time I didn’t know what he wanted, but I met him again when you were unconscious and he said he wanted to make you his apprentice.”

"That explains some of the things I dreamed of. Don't worry Rayla, I don’t intend on using Dark Magic ever again.”

“I’m just worried that he might try something again. When you resisted him, he tried to kill with a spell,” she said softly, remembering how utterly useless she felt at helping her best friend.

_He’s my best friend, but…_

“If he wanted to finish the job, he would have come back by now. And even if he returns, we’ll figure something out. You’ve got to have faith,” he said with a smile that made gave her butterflies in her stomach. The hand he had on her shoulder warmed her entire being.

_I want something more than friends_.

She couldn’t keep denying what she feels for Callum. The feelings started to take root as they journeyed across Katolis as she learned how wonderful he is. She was always thought that humans are evil, but Callum destroyed all that she thought she knew about humans. Through him and Ezran, he discovered that humans can be brave, kind, and strong. Eventually, she fell for him, but she didn't acknowledge her feelings because she didn't know what they were at first, she had never experienced something like this before. When Callum and Claudia got together she tried to rationalize those feelings by telling herself that it was the fear of losing Callum. When she nearly lost Callum that was when she came to terms with her feelings towards the prince. The only obstacles in telling Callum how she feels are Claudia and herself. She was afraid that he would reject her, that their friendship would be ruined.

Rayla chanced a look at Callum, who was admiring the star-filled sky. She knew it was probably a bad idea to make him open up the wound, but she was curious and hopeful. "Callum?”

“Yeah?”

“How are your feelings on Claudia?”

He frowned and turned his gaze towards her. Rayla realized that it wasn’t a good idea to ask. “…I thought that she liked me the same way I liked her. But now I’m not so sure. I think about all our interactions before we when on this journey and I realized that while she maybe cared about me, she didn’t return my feelings, and I had been pretty obvious with my lovesick puppy dog looks. I…I don't want to admit it, but I think she was manipulating me from the start. She probably knew about that border town and she led us there so she could restrain us without problems. You were right Rayla. She was tricking me.”

“I wish I wasn’t,” she spoke sincerely.

“Doesn’t matter now. I’ll deal with that when the time comes,” he said with a small reassuring smile.

“We should get some sleep. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow,” Rayla said and faced away from Callum.

“Yeah, you’re right. Goodnight Rayla.”

“Goodnight.”

Rayla laid on the ground, listening to the prince’s breathing until it became softer and regular, a clear sign that he fell asleep. She sighed to herself. It was clear that Callum is still hurting, which was understandable since the wound is still fresh. She wants to help him, but she doesn’t know how. She doesn’t know much about relationships. Maybe time is all that is needed. She turned and looked at Callum sleeping peacefully and smiled.

_He’s worth the wait, though. Now all I have to do is just gather some courage._

She knew that if she waited too long and or didn’t do anything, Callum would eventually find someone else. The thought didn’t sit well with her. She knew she was risking their friendship, but she just couldn’t live with the thought of not telling him.

_There's a chance that he might not feel the same. He never gave any indication that I was something more than a friend. And that's fine. I'm okay with just being friends…No, I'm really not okay with that, but I rather be friends than nothing at all. And if he doesn't return my feelings, I’ll just fix our friendship. I know that he too would like us to be friends._

* * *

Callum inspected every flower, every insect, and every creature that would let him with his cube and marveled that all of them were connected to the Primal. Even the dirt had magical energy!

_I guess that explains the huge trees. We’re literally walking on a tree branch!_

But what really blows his mind is the melodaisy, a flower that plays music! He had never seen such incredible things before! Xadia is without a doubt a magnificent place.

Rayla, of course, was used to seeing this. So, her pace never slowed something that annoyed Callum.

“Rayla, you’re pushing us to move too fast. You know, there’s a human saying: ‘sometimes, you’ve got to stop and smell the roses.’”

Rayla looked down at some flowers and smirked. Callum was oblivious to the danger. “Maybe you’re right Callum. Did you know there is a Xadian flower with a more fascinating scent than anything in the human kingdoms?” she said innocently before picking a flower and gave it to Callum. “Go ahead. Stop and smell this one.”

Callum expected the most amazing smell ever. Like fairy dust. Instead, he got to smell something that Soren lets out after he had a lot of cheese. Rayla laughed.

“What is that?” he asked as he coughed, his eyes burning from the offending smell.

“Some people call them flatu-lillies, toot-lips, peri-sprinkels. But at the end of the day it’s a fart flower.”

They continued moving, although at a much more relaxed pace. Callum wistfully thought about how Ezran would have loved seeing all of this.

_Maybe when this is over, we can take a vacation and explore Xadia with Rayla. Just the three of us._

The duo climbed the larges linden tree Callum had ever seen and used one of its fruits to descend down in the valley. Callum held onto Rayla like his life depended on it, clenching his teeth shut so that he wouldn’t scream, least he wanted Rayla to go deaf.

When the ride was over, Callum quickly released her. “Sorry,” he said, his cheeks red. “I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay. It was a bumpy ride,” his companion responded, winking at him, trying to look calm, but her red cheeks betrayed her.

Callum frowned when he digested her words. _Was she flirting with me? Nah, I’m imagining things._

Rayla grimaced when she realized what she just said. _I can’t believe I flirted with him!_

They had reached the meadow where Rayla used to play with adoraburrs and decided to camp there for the night. It's been a while since Callum could relax and playing with the adorable creatures was just what he needed.

“I can’t believe I’m almost home,” Rayla said as they walked. “Somehow I’m happy and excited, but also terrified.”

“You’re just nervous. Once they see you and widdle baby Zym, I’m sure they’ll help us,” Callum said while staking the adoraburrs together.

“When the other elves are going to see me and Zym, will be one thing. But my new human friend, might not be so popular.”

The aduraburrs looked at Callum as if they just realized that he wasn’t an elf and they left his hand. Callum smirked at Rayla. “But you know who is going to be popular? Your new charming, elf friend,” he asked as he searched his backpack.

“Oh no, please no,” begged Rayla, realizing what will happen.

_Oh, yes! Payback time!_

“Get ready to meet: elf Callum!” the prince exclaimed after he put the disguise which consisted of two twigs tied together by a small rope and stuffing the sleeves of his jacket with leaves. “I’m one of those forest elves with the antlers,” he explained as he arranged one of the twigs the fell on his face.

“You mean an Earthblood elf?”

“But wait, the illusion is not complete,” he said and took a deep breath before he spoke again in a thick accent. “Oy, mate. I’m an Earthblood elf. All me best mates are trees!” he exclaimed as he hugged a nearby tree. Rayla facepalmed. “’Mate’ is Earthblood for ‘friend’. High four?” he asked and raised his hand, keeping his ring finger over his middle one. Rayla reluctantly high foured him. “Down low?”

“No, thanks, I’m good,” she said annoyed.

Callum smirked. While he wanted to keep annoying her with his elf improvisation, he didn’t know much about elves so he decided to drop least he insulted Rayla,

* * *

Soren and Claudia entered the dungeon to see their father.

“My children,” said Viren with a smile as he approached the bars. “I’m so glad to see you safe.”

“What happened dad? Why are you here?” asked Claudia.

Viren scoffed. “I was trying to unite the kingdoms against Xadia and the Council was more concerned that I broke a few rules. But enough about that. The egg, did you retrieve it?"

Claudia flinched and looked away. “The egg…is not an egg anymore. It hatched.”

“It hatched? That dragon will become the most powerful creature in the world and you let it fall back into Xadia hands?” asked Viren angrily.

“Dad, Soren was going to die…”

“That doesn’t matter!” snarled the dark mage.

“Dad?” said Soren with a small voice, his heart shattering at the realization that his own father didn’t care that he was about to die.

Viren took a breath to calm himself. “I do not mean to be cruel. But we must be ready to sacrifice. Even the things we love.”

_King Harrow wouldn’t have sacrificed his sons_. Soren thought.

"I would have asked you to choose the egg over my life as well," continued his father. "Everything I do and everything I ask of you is for the future of mankind.

“Is that why you ask Soren to kill the princes?” asked Claudia as she glared at her father.

Viren looked shocked for a moment before he laughed. “Is that what you thought Soren? Claudia, did you really think I would ask him to do such a thing? Surely, you know that your brother is…easily confused,” he said and Claudia visibly relaxed.

“Wait, I know I’m not the smartest, but I know what you said,” said Soren.

“Oh, really? What did I say?” asked Viren smugly.

“You told me to return with the news that the princes died. You said ‘Accidents happen all the times’.”

“I was trying to prepare you for the worst. I knew tragedy might have already befallen them.”

"No! You said I'd know to do the right thing," Soren said, and even to his ears, his argument sounded weak.

“Soren, I told you ‘do the right thing’ and you somehow you heard ‘kill the princes’. This is disappointing, even for you son.”

Ignoring the pain in his chest, Soren turned to his last hope. “Claudia, you believe me right?”

Claudia gave him the same smile she did whenever he messed up. The pitying smile. “Oh, Sor-bear. I believe you thought you heard it, but you obviously made a mistake. It’s a good thing you failed in what you thought was your mission, right? Don’t worry dad, we’ll get you out of here soon. I’ll speak to Ezran to let you out.”

“Prince Ezran is back?” asked Viren

"Yes. And once I explain to him what happened, he'll release you. He's the one who stopped Opheli from throwing us into the dungeon."

“Yes, that makes sense since you’re not bound. Ezran is a smart boy, he’ll do the right thing,” said Viren with an easy smile.

“He always does,” said his daughter with a similar smile.

The siblings left the dungeon, their moods polar opposite. While Claudia was happy and chirper that her father was okay and all of this was a misunderstanding, Soren was heartbroken that his own father saw him as a disposable tool and he manipulated him and his sister into thinking Soren was in the wrong.

* * *

“We’re here! My home!” exclaimed Rayla happily.

“Here?” asked Callum, looking at the empty meadow. “Uh, no. I like it. It’s…modest,” he said quickly.

“It’s protected by an illusion. To get in, I perform a special ritual that lets me see through the spell. It’s like having a magic key.”

“Okay. But how do I get in?”

“You use my key. Just do what I do.”

Rayla started to dance and Callum clumsily copied her moved. Once he got the steps down he moved about more gracefully as years of court dancing kicked in. As they danced symbols appeared at their feet. When they joined hands, a light enveloped them.

_She’s really beautiful_ thought, Callum, as he admired Rayla. Her amethyst eyes that sparkled with excitement and joy, her skin which has the same color of her eyes give her an exotic look. Her cute long ears and her horns also add to the exotic look. Her snow-white hair looked soft and silky even after weeks of grueling traveling. Soft looking lips.

Callum’s cheeks burned. _Wow, where are these thoughts coming from_?

The light burst out, enveloping the meadow, and dispelled the illusion.

“This is it! The Silvergroove!” exclaimed Rayla.

“Wow,” said Callum as he admired the elven village.

“Isn’t it amazing?” she asked before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the village. “I want to show you everything. Are you hungry? I can take you to where they make the best Moonberry Surprise.”

“What’s in a Moonberry Surprise?”

“I can’t just tell you what’s in a Moonberry Surprise is Callum.”

The prince smiled at his friend’s happiness. Her smile was both beautiful and infectious. But then, Callum noticed something. Him, a human, was walking into an elven town without so much as getting a second glance. Even though he was still wearing his ‘elf disguise’ no one would be fooled by it. Now that he thought about it, no one was paying him, Rayla or Zym any mind. Callum turned to look at a few elves to see if he might get a reaction of them. What he saw made him gasp.

“Rayla, something is wrong,” he said urgently, interrupting her as she was listing the places she wanted to show Callum. “Look,” he pointed to a few elves. “They have no faces.”

“Oh, no. Oh, no!” exclaimed Rayla, horrified.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“It’s not them. It’s me. I’m a ghost!”

“What? But you’re not dead!”

“It’s not like that. I’m magically banished. They can’t see you or Zym because you came in with me. It happened to my parents when they ran away and now it happened to me,” she explained, the happiness she felt earlier turned into sadness.

“But you didn’t run away. It’s a mistake,” Callum said as he put his hand on her arm to comfort her.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Come on, there’s one person who would understand,” she said, hope returning to her.

“Remember Runaan, leader of the assassins?” asked Rayla, leading the way.

“How can I forget?” said Callum, trying to keep the venom out of his voice. They killed his dad. He would never forget that. But right now, this wasn’t about him, it’s about Rayla. And so he kept his tone normal, but there was an underlying coldness to it.

Rayla picked up on it but didn't comment. "Right. Well, when my parents joined the Dragon Guard I lived with Runaan and his husband Ethari. They were my parents’ best friend and they took care of me for years. We’re going to meet Ethari.”

“Will he be able to see you?”

“He wouldn’t have done the spell. He always had faith in me,” she said with confidence. Rayla took a breath and opened the doors. “Ethari! It’s me. I’m so glad that you are here. They made a mistake. They made me a ghost. But you have to tell them, I didn’t run away.”

Ethari said nothing. He kept working like no one was there.

“Ethari?” Rayla asked when he didn’t say anything. _No, it can’t be…_

Her worst fear was realized when Ethari turned and he had no face.

Rayla gasped, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “Ethari…Not you too," she said before she fell to her knees. She couldn’t stand anymore.

Callum’s heart broke when he looked at how defeated Rayla was. He couldn't begin to imagine what she was feeling. He turned and glared hatefully at Ethari.

_It’s not fair! She didn’t run away! She found a way to bring peace to the world, to save lives. She’s a hero!_

“There has to be a way to get his attention,” he said as he approached Ethari. “Ethari was it?” You didn’t even give Rayla a chance to explain herself! She doesn’t deserve this!”

“Callum, it’s no use…”

“LOOK AT HER!” he yelled before slamming both hands on the table. Rayla flinched and Zym whimpered in a corner. Suddenly, Ethari stopped working and stood up with a curved sword in both hands. "I think it worked."

“The reflection. He can see me in the reflection. Yeah, I’m here. Surprised to see my face?”

“Can he hear you?”

“No, but he could see how I feel!” she said glaring at her parent figure.

“Rayla…” said Ethari remorsefully. “Before you left I told Runaan that you were too goodhearted for the work of an assassin, so I know you didn’t betray them out of malice. But that doesn’t matter…they’re gone. He’s gone. Because you abandoned them.”

Ethari’s words hurt so much that Rayla couldn’t stand being in his workshop anymore.

“Rayla!” Callum cried out to her, but she didn’t stop. With one final glare at the older elf, Callum followed after his friend.

He found her by a fountain.

“I get it now. They didn’t make it. I thought that Runaan was still alive, but maybe Soren lied to me, or he was eventually killed.”

“How do you know?”

“This,” she said and pointed to the metallic flower that floated in the fountain. She explained that these flowers are enchanted and they will float as long as the assassin still draws breath.

“So, when all the others sank and yours didn’t…”

“They thought you ran away, just like my parents…”

“But they’re wrong! You didn’t run away!”

“Does it matter?” she said sadly as she tossed a stone in the fountain.

Eventually, Ethari appeared next to her. “Take my hand,” he said. Rayla did as he asked and a flash of light later, Ethari had a face again. “There you are,” he said and hugged her. “I’m not as strong as the others, this will only break the spell for a moment, but I couldn’t bear to let you go without seeing you one last time. But I don’t understand Rayla. How could you abandon them?”

“I failed them. It was my fault we were discovered, but I didn’t run away. Ethari, we found something. Callum, show him.”

Callum showed him Zym and the older elf gasped. Rayla explained to him that she and Callum found the Dragon Prince and knew that if they brought him home there could be peace.

“It’s a miracle,” exclaimed Ethari happily. However, his happiness quickly evaporated. "But Rayla, there's something you should know. The Dragon Queen is dying. Since the death of her mate, she had fallen very ill."

“We have to get to her. It’s the only way.”

Ethari whistle and two moon mounds came. “You can ride faster than walk. I’ll send a message to the Dragon Queen. If she knows her little one is alive perhaps she will hold on.”

Rayla and Callum got on and were ready to leave.

“Ethari, can I ever come home again?” Rayla asked hopefully.

“I don’t know,” he said before giving her his necklace. “It’s a real moon opal. When I made its match for Runaan, I told him ‘my love will be with you even when the moon is not’. Goodbye Rayla,” he said before the spell ended and Ethari had no longer a face.

Without a word, Rayla gave the mount the signal to leave. Callum spared a glance at Ethari before following her.

_Those assassins chose their path. They chose bloodshed over peace and they paid the price. I don't mourn them at all, in fact, I think they got what they deserve. But…why do I feel sad? No, it's not sadness I feel, but regret. Regret for what?_

Callum glance at Rayla. She was looking straight ahead, her face looking like it was carved out of stone. No doubt focusing on the mission instead of her feelings.

_It doesn’t matter right now. Rayla needs me and I’ll be there for her, just like she was for me._


	13. Chapter 13

Callum grunted as he tried to ride his mount, but his lack of riding skills and the mount’s dislike of him made that extremely difficult. He ducked his head to avoid a tree branch, but the saddle slid to the side and he almost hit his head on the ground. Once he was back upright, he approached Rayla. A sadness took root in his heart as he watched her ride with a sad, melancholic expression on her face. He tried to get her to talk but she snapped at him, promising him to smack him upside the head if he didn't leave her alone. He sighed in resignation as he left her alone, hoping that later she would want to talk about it. He didn't understand why she would keep her feelings bottle up like that. Then he remembered something that answered his question.

_The thing is Moonshadow elves aren’t supposed to show fear. Ever._

That explained quite a lot. He guessed that Moonshadow elves aren’t supposed to show other emotions either, like sadness. Moonshadow elves must be fearless and loyal without question. Of course, it was speculation, but it was something he deduced from what he saw. Besides Rayla’s explanation, there was also the matter of her exile. There was no trial involved. The elves decided that because Rayla lived while the rest of her team received what they deserved she was guilty. No one allowed her to explain herself, not even Ethari, the one who Rayla considered family. Once more he felt anger towards Rayla’s kinsman.

Suddenly Rayla stopped them, telling him that something or someone is coming. Both teens tensed up, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. In front of them appeared another elf with wings on her back. She introduced herself as Naimi-Selari-Nykantia, but most people call her Nyx. She was a massager from the Queen of the Dragons herself, here to take Zym to his mother. Rayla and Callum weren’t going to let some stranger take Zym, even if they worked for his mother. They started this journey together and they would finish it together. Nyx then proposed to escort them herself to the Dragon Queen. They agreed.

Nyx wasn’t kidding when she said that the Midnight Desert is scorching. He was grateful that he decided to put his armor in the backpack otherwise he would have been cooked alive. Thankfully they had enough water, curtesy of Nyx until they reached the Oasis at sundown. Callum tried once more to get Rayla to open up, but she remained closed off. The duo lost their balance when the ambler got her foot stuck in the ground. While Nyx was working to get her foot free, Callum couldn’t help but stare at the boomerangs on her staff, feeling a deep connection between them, like he might have used such a weapon in another life. Before he could have time to contemplate further the ambler was free and they resumed their journey.

When they finally arrived at the oasis at sundown, Callum looked in wonder at the obelisks that cast their protective magic around it. The oasis itself looked welcoming. Nyx handed them a couple of bedrolls, suggestively asking if they need one or two bedrolls. Callum stuttered trying to tell Nyx that they would require two and Rayla shoved a bedroll in his arms without looking at him saying that they needed two.

“Two,” he repeated, his cheeks burning not from the heat.

He didn’t know why Nyx was smirking at him, but he could tell she was enjoying herself.

* * *

He woke to the sound of crying.

“Rayla?” he asked softly. He got up and saw her crying. “Rayla, it’s going to be okay.”

“Get away from me,” she said, hitting him with her pillow before running off.

He quickly followed her and found her near the pound.

“Please leave me alone. I don’t want you to see me like this,” she begged and the sad, broken tone of her voice tore him apart. She pulled her hood down to cover her face

“I don’t care if you’re crying, I’m here for you,” he said gently as he sat near her.

She suddenly got up. “I’m a mess.”

“No, you’re not. It’s going to be okay.”

“I’ve lost everything. My parents, the people who cared about me, my home. There’s nowhere I belong now.”

“That’s not true Rayla. You’re going through a tough time, that’s all.”

"That's not all!" she snapped. "It's me and it's all my fault! I failed them! I let them down! They're right to reject. I'm not good enough and I'll never be."

Callum felt like Soren just punched him in the gut, however, this feeling quickly disappeared as he got mad. He was once more mad at the people who abandoned her, who passed judgment onto her without letting her prove her innocence. But he was also mad at her.

_How can she think that about herself? Doesn’t she know how amazing she is? This has to stop, right now!_

He marched near her and spoke with the grace of rampaging dragon. “Shut up.”

“What?” she asked, thinking she had misheard him. Rayla had never expected him to tell her to shut up so bluntly.

“Shut up,” he repeated. “You’re talking crazy. Just listen to me,” Callum said, grabbing her hands and pulling her up. “You’re too good to feel this bad about yourself. I know that and you should know that. You have true courage and a big heart. I’ve seen you get knocked down so many times before and every single time you get back up again. That’s real strength. And even if the whole world was against you, know that I’ll be by your side,” he said and Rayla blushed hard from not only from his words but from the smoldering way he was looking into her eyes. And even though they had a different number of fingers, her hand fit perfectly in his. "And…and you're ten times funnier than any human I know." 

Rayla let out a small laugh, wiping her tears.

“See? You know you’re amazing. You’re smart and fast and beautiful,” he said pulling down her hood. Rayla’s face was glowing, her eyes were sparkling. “Rayla, you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

Rayla smiled and leaned closer, her eyes flickering towards his lips for a second. Then she closed her eyes and gently pressed her lips against his. All of her worries and all of her sorrows evaporated like the mist in the morning as her wish came true: Callum returned her feelings for her.

When Callum felt her soft lips against his, he felt like he had been struck by lightning. His whole body froze and his mind went blank. Rayla pulled back, her face beaming, but her happiness was short-lived when she saw Callum doing his best statue impersonation. "That's…not what I was expecting," he said, eventually.

“You were saying all those things, so…”

“No, I…I wasn’t saying those things so that you…”

She gasped when she realized what she had done. She turned away. “We will never speak of this again. Do you understand?”

"Of course. Of course, yeah. Of course, I do," he stammered.

“No, I mean never. I will bind myself to killing you if you even mention-“ she said glaring at the prince.

“Mention? Mention what? There’s nothing to mention,” he said with a nervous laugh.

"We walk away. This never happened."

“Perfect.”

When Rayla’s back was turned to him, Callum face-palmed himself. _Good work Callum. You just made it worst. Soren was right calling me the misstep prince._

Unknown to Callum, Rayla had similar thoughts. _Nice going Rayla. You just ruined your friendship with Callum. _

When they returned to their camp the absolute worst scenario waited for them: Nyx had betrayed them and took Zym. They tried to pursue the Skywing elf immediately, but after they lost a mount to a Soulfang serpent they decided it was too dangerous to travel at night. They decided to get some shut-eye until dawn, but Callum couldn't sleep. He kept thinking over and over again about his kiss with Rayla. He could still feel her soft lips on his and he felt a shiver down his spine, but it was a pleasant kind of shiver. The only time he felt like this was when he was with Claudia. He scowls and quickly returned his thoughts on Rayla. Things are going to be weird between them. They might pretend that everything is okay, but Callum would always remember her kiss. Not that he would ever want to forget it. Even if he didn’t respond to it, the soft press of her lips on his had been amazing. However, now he was in a conundrum. He didn’t know what he could do or say that would make things go back to how they were before. He wasn’t sure that they could get back to normal and that scared him more than he would have thought possible. Rayla had become someone irreplaceable in his life. He couldn’t imagine doing this journey with anyone else, it just wasn’t possible. He thought about what would happen once the war was over. Rayla would be a hero to the elves and eventually, she would be able to return home. He would no doubt return to the Katolis, become an advisor of Ezran. They would never see each other again. It wasn’t a thought he relished.

So, yes he couldn’t imagine his life without her, but could he return her feelings for him? Callum had never looked Rayla in that kind of light before, but now? He could see himself with her though, she was funny, smart, and beautiful. In one word, she was amazing. But despite that, he was a bit reluctant. Claudia's betrayal had made him a bit more cautious about giving someone his heart and while he knew from the bottom of his heart that Rayla would never betray him, he couldn’t help the worm of doubt that has burrowed itself inside his heart. After all, he thought the same about Claudia. He bit back from screaming in frustration. How could things got so messed up in such a short while?

_Breathe._

His mother’s gentle voice whispered in his head and he relaxed. They needed to get Zym back first, then they would deal with is going between them.

* * *

Callum grunted as he tried to not fall off the mount.

“Will you stop moving around?” Rayla asked annoyed.

“Sorry. I’m trying to find a good position. It’s tricky.”

“Just hold onto me.”

Callum’s cheeks flushed and not because of the heat. “Oh, I mean, I guess I could do that. If you don’t think that would be…weird.”

“You are already weird, super weird. Just hold on,” she said nonchalantly, but Rayla could feel her cheeks grow warm.

“Right. Not weird. Putting my arm around you feels normal,” he said and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist.

_Perfectly normal._

They tracked the Ambler and after a few hours of riding, they got a break. They found the Ambler with her foot stuck again. However, before they could get close enough, Nyx managed to free the Ambler's foot.

“What are we going to do now?”

“We’re going to do this the hard way,” responded Rayla and brought them closer to the Ambler’s feet.

Rayla stood on the mount and Callum realized what she was about to do. “No. No, no, no. You’re not gonna…” he said but Rayla did exactly what he thought she would do: jump on the Ambler’s foot. “This is crazy. Totally crazy.”

“You can make it. I’ll catch you!” she yelled.

Callum took a deep breath and unsteadily stood on the mount, ready to jump. He didn’t need any more reassurance. He jumped and was about to fall and be crushed by the Ambler if not for Rayla grabbing his hand and pulled him up. Rayla reached the back of the Ambler first.

“Whatever your stupid scheme was, it’s over Nyx,” she said brandishing her weapons.

Callum appeared a second later. “We trusted you.”

“What’s the big deal?” asked Nyx with a smirk, holding Zym. “I was just taking Zym back to his mum. He would get home faster, and I assume I would get a sweet treasure or something as a reward. So, you know, win-win.”

“Reward?” asked Callum incredulously. “I thought elves were above such things as treasure and reward.

Nyx snorted. “Clearly you haven’t met a lot of elves.”

“Hand. Zym. Over,” growled Rayla.

Nyx just laughed. “You think you got me cornered but you forgot one thing.”

“What’s that?”

Nyx climbed on the edge and the travelers' eyes widen. "No!" they shouted and ran towards Nyx, but they were too slow. Nyx jumped and just as she was to hit the ground she flapped her wings and launched into the sky.

“She was right. We did forget,” commented Callum and Rayla groaned in annoyance.

_Now what? I could hit her with _Fulminis_, but that would also hit Zym. He survived being hit by lightning once, but I don’t want to test if he is immune to lightning. It’s almost dark. If this continues we’ll lose sight of them._

Those concerns were quickly put to rest as the sky sparked with lightning. It seems that Zym isn’t that keen on being separated from Callum and Rayla. So, he started to zap Nyx and he managed to free himself from her grasp and bit her wings, electrocuting his captor until she fell. Rayla dropped a rope down, pulled Callum close to her, and jumped. When they hit the ground Callum tumbled, but Rayla landed on her feet.

“Wow, where did you learn to do that?” he asked.

“I never done that before in my life,” she said, excited.

They went where Nyx had crashed and Zym landed in Callum's arms. Both teams were relieved like a crushing weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

“Help! Help me!” cried Nyx. “My wings are hurt. I can’t fly.”

Suddenly dozens of Soulfang serpents emerged from the ground, hissing at the injured elf.

“Please! You have to help me!” cried Nyx, desperately.

_Is that so?_ Thought Callum.

He regarded the Skywing coldly. This elf betrayed and left them stranded in the middle of the desert. She didn't care about stopping the war or even reuniting Zym with his mother. She only cared about herself. She was selfish and greedy. Even if she was the only one who could ride the Ambler, Callum still didn’t see why he had to save her. They already had a mount, and they were close to exiting the desert. All they needed to do was get themselves and their mount on top of the Ambler for the rest of the night and tomorrow they could keep riding using the Moon mount. Save her out of the goodness of his heart? He wasn’t that good to save people who betrayed them. Claudia and Soren’s betrayal had made his heart go colder. This whole journey had hardened him.

Before he could say that they should return to the Ambler, Rayla spoke. “Callum, take Zym back to the Ambler,” she said before going to help Nyx.

Callum could only stare at Rayla as she cut down the serpents with insane speed and precision he could help but wonder why she would risk her life for someone who betrayed them. Then he remembered that this was Rayla. She would always risk her life to save people, even if they don't like her or betrayed her because she is a hero. She is Rayla. His heart grows big and warm as he watched her and he was so caught up in looking at her that she had to call out to him to run to the Ambler after she saved Nyx.

“Why did you save me? After I tricked and betrayed you?” asked Nyx once they were back on the giant creature. “It’s because I’m charming? Despite it all, you couldn’t help but like me?” asked Nyx with a smirk.

“No, that’s not it. I don’t like you at all,” responded Rayla.

“Oh,” Nyx deflated a little. “Then why?”

Callum smiled and turn toward Nyx. “It’s because Rayla is a hero.”

“What?” the elf in question said, clearly not expecting that.

“Rayla saves people. She's brave. She does what's right even if it puts her own life in danger and even when the odds seem impossible. Even when it means her own people might misunderstand and turn against her. Rayla is selfless, strong, and caring. That's what makes her a hero. That's what makes her Rayla,” he said and at one point he wasn’t talking to Nyx anymore. He got closer to her and he stopped thinking and started feeling. He found that things worked better when he let his heart guide him, after all, he had been doing that for a long time. Whenever he would draw, he would let his heart guide his hand, all his drawings were from the heart. When he used magic for the first, he let instincts guide him and when he connected to Primal it was his heart that had helped him form the connection. And right now, his heart wanted this. This moment. "You are so…" he trailed off and pressed his lips on hers. Now it was Rayla’s turn to be electrified. She felt a shiver run down her spine and her face burned hot. When Callum pulled back and saw Rayla’s stunned face he thought that he made a mistake. “Oh, no. I’m sorry. I just got carried away. The next thing I know my lips were getting ahead of me, and-“ he said quickly.

Rayla rolled her eyes. _What a dummy human. My dummy human._

“Shut up,” she said.

That stopped Callum’s rant. “What?” he asked, confused.

She grabbed him by his scarf and smashed her lips on his.

“Wow,” was all Callum had to say after they pulled back.

The two teenagers embraced one another, staring lovingly into each other’s eyes before kissing once, only this time the kiss was much softer than before.


	14. Chapter 14

Claudia yawned as she walked through the castle halls. Today had been an exhausting day with her father taking over the Katolis, preparing the army, and dealing with the soldiers who no longer wished to fight. Thinking about the recent even made her think about the little prince that was currently locked in his room. While Ezran was young and inexperienced, he had a heart of gold and that could be seen in his actions: when he freed her and her brother, his last degree in which he gave the opportunity to let those who no longer wished to fight to return home.

_He deserves more than what he was given,_ she thought sadly then cheered up as she thought: _I should bring him some jelly tarts tomorrow. He probably doesn’t get dessert while being locked in that room._

The next morning, Claudia walked towards the little king’s room which he shared with his older brother. The thought of Callum stabbed at her heart, but she pushed it down. She would deal with that problem later. The lack of guards was suspicious to her, but she shrugged and knock on the door. There was no response and she knocked again and called his name. Nothing. She took a chance and found that the door wasn’t locked and she almost dropped the plate with sweets when she saw that room was empty.

_This is bad. Ezran loves hide and seek, but he shouldn’t be out of his room. I need to find him before some else does._

After she set the plate down, she started searching the hiding spots she knew but found nothing. Eventually, she runs into Soren.

“Soren,” she whispered to make sure no one would hear them.

“What’s up? Why are you whispering?” he asked casually.

She made a shushing sound. “Ezran is missing. I’m trying to find him before dad or that nasty prince Kasif does.”

Soren instantly paled. He contemplated for a moment if he should tell her, but decided that he should come clean. He wasn’t going to lie like his father, not anymore. “I let him go.”

“What?!” she screeched.

“Not so loud!” he said, looking for any other people. The hallway was deserted.

“Soren, what were you thinking?!” she whispered harshly.

“I was thinking that an 11-year-old kid shouldn’t be locked in a dungeon for no good reason. Especially since said kid treated us better despite what we did!”

Claudia was taken aback. “He was locked in the dungeon?”

“Yeah,” he stated simply. The boy was left completely alone, no one to guard him or even given meals. Granted he stayed only for a night and the next morning. Viren’s coronation took place, so there wasn’t any time to feed the boy, but Soren suspected that his dad wouldn’t have wasted any soldiers to guard one lone boy or even waste bread to feed him. If only he had given voice to his suspicions, then maybe he could have convinced Claudia that their father wasn’t the same man they used to love. Alas, such is life: filled with choices we deem insignificant, but can have lasting consequences further down the road.

“I’m going to have a word with dad,” said Claudia and turned to leave only to stop when Soren grabbed her arms.

“You can’t! He will want to know where Ezran is and I let him go, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right. Soren, how could you let him go?! Do you know how dangerous it can be for a kid to be out there?! What if he gets kidnapped by bandits or attack by wild creatures?!”

“I didn’t let him go on his own, Claudia. I wrote to that moon lady we found on that mountain. She came to pick him up.”

Claudia visibly relaxed. “That’s good. She would take care of him. We should get ready, we have to march in two hours.”

* * *

“Doesn’t it disturb you?” asked Soren as they rode.

“What?” asked Claudia as she was pulled from her thoughts.

“How dad is talking to himself.”

Claudia looked at her father and saw in deep conversation with the empty space next to him. “A little, yes,” she admitted. She herself whispered under her breath when she was in deep concentration, but she wasn't having a full-blown conversation with herself. "He's under a lot of stress, becoming king, leading an army this size, fighting Xadia. People tend to develop some strange quirks when faced with these kinds of responsibilities. We need to do what we can to lighten the load."

Soren didn't respond which lead Claudia to return to her thoughts. She tried to keep herself from thinking about Callum but with nothing to do but ride for hours, it was impossible not to think about him. At first, she hated him for cutting Soren's arms off, for leaving her but after Soren had told her that what he assumed was his mission he understood that it was all self-defense. Not to mention Claudia also had him thrown in a dungeon, even though it was for his own good, there could have been another way to do it. So, yes, they both made mistakes, but she was sure that if they were to talk them out, everything would go back to the way it was before. She couldn't wait to see him as she had quite enough of tall, dark, and broody prince riding next to her. Some women find that attractive, but Claudia prefers someone who was warm, compassionate, and loving. Yet, she couldn't help the creeping sensation that turns her body cold, like she was afraid. Afraid that Callum wouldn't have feelings for her anymore.

_Impossible_, she thought as she shook her head. _Callum loves me since we were kids and I love him too._

Despite telling herself that, she couldn’t shake the chills in her bones.

* * *

Callum was very happy to see his little brother again. However, that happiness turned to dread and he immediately launched a barrage of questions to Ezran. Is he alright? Why is he here? Did something happen at the castle? Ezran answered his questions and Callum’s brows furrowed.

_So, Viren has made his move_.

“What about aunt Amaya?” he asked.

“They told me that she was back at the Breach,” said Ezran

Callum nodded. At least she would be safe from Viren. “Why are all the other kingdoms determined to attack Xadia?” asked Rayla.

“They believe that their rules were assassinated by Moonshadow elves.”

“What? That’s impossible! We just came from my village. There were no more enchanted flowers in the pound.”

“Viren must be behind these assassinations and blamed them on the elves,” Callum said, not putting anything past the Dark Mage. “So, besides trying to convince Xadia to stop fighting, we also need to convince the human kingdoms as well.”

“Oh, that’s just great. I love it when things get more difficult,” said sarcastically Rayla.

Callum chuckled dryly. “Good news is: Zym’s almost home. Let’s rest for a bit then keep moving.”

The break was something they needed considering the scare they got with Phoe-Phoe. Thankfully she was going to be okay and one day she will be reborn. Ezran played with Bait and Zym while Callum and Rayla sat down watching them, enjoying this moment. Yet he couldn’t help but feel the shadow the petrified corpse of the former King of Dragons. He looked up and glared hatefully at the dead dragon.

“Callum?” Rayla asked, sensing the shift in mood in Callum.

“I hate him. He is the one who killed my mother,” he said, voice full of venom, and Rayla’s stomach dropped. “I also hate Runaan and Viren for their parts in my dad’s death.”

“I know. I could tell,” she said softly.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could let go, but I can’t. I thought I could break the cycle of revenge and hate, but I don’t think I’m strong enough,” he said, voice filled with sadness and regret.

“That’s not true, Callum! You don’t hate Zym or want to kill his mom to get revenge, do you?”

“Of course not!”

“Then you aren’t stuck in the cycle! If you were you would have sided with Claudia on that night at the castle. It’s normal to feel angry after what you’ve been through.”

Callum let out a sigh that shook his entire body. “I feel so confused. I hate him for sure, but I also feel angry and sad because that was Zym’s dad. I know how much Runaan means to you and Ethari and I looked up to Viren, I thought of him as my uncle. I’m so sorry that all of this happened.” 

“Me too,” said Rayla gently. “But look at how they are playing together Callum. That’s the miracle, that’s the hope. They are the ones who are going to break the cycle.”

Callum smiled and took her hand. Rayla was right, if anyone can break this cycle is those two, and Callum and Rayla will be right beside them, looking out for them. And maybe one day, the wounds in Callum’s heart will heal.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


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